Reading the Future: Philosophers Stone
by Leslie93
Summary: The true maruaders and Lily recieve a very important christmas present, the Harry Potter series, and four very important people to read them with. Better then it the summery sounds i promise :
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer – I got many awesome Christmas presents, unfortunately none of them were the rights to Harry Potter, J.K Rowling still owns all them **

'IT'S CHRISTMAS!!' Sirius Blacks voice echoed through the currently empty heads common room of Hogwarts.

'Do you have to be so loud!?' Remus Lupin, a boy with sandy coloured hair, said to one of his best friends Sirius.

'Of course I do! It's Christmas', Sirius repeated staring at his friend, 'and besides how else are we gonna wake James up?'

'There was no need to try and wake me' James Potter a tall muscular boy with glasses and messy black hair said appearing at the bottom of the boys staircase fully dressed and starring at his two best friends.

'Jamesie boy, Merry Christmas!' Sirius practically yelled, giving his friend a manly hug.

'Every year' Remus muttered while James laughed beginning to catch Sirius's good spirits

'Why the HELL did you give them our password' a fiery looking redhead said appearing from the girls dormitories.

'Sorry Lil's, but we're kind of a package deal, you should have known that before we started dating', James said, giving her a kiss, 'Merry Christmas', he whispered in her ear.

Lily Evans smiled at her boyfriend, if someone had told her a few months ago that she would be James potters girlfriend of 2 months she would have told them they were crazy, but one thing led to another and before she knew it she had fallen in love with James.

'Merry Christmas James', she said, 'and you two as well'

'Thanks and you to Lil's. Sorry for waking you' Sirius replied giving her a charming smile,'so... Present time?' Sirius asked, looking at James hopefully who looked at him for a second before nodding. Sirius rushed over to the pile of presents sitting under a Christmas tree that the castles elves had set up the night before with each person's presents underneath it.

'Ok this one's for you James from Remus, this one's again for you from me this time' Sirius called out as he chucked the presents over his shoulder in the general direction he knew James was standing. Lily watched on amazed as Sirius did this with the other two seemingly unfazed by what was happening as James caught both presents with lightning fast reflexes years quidditch had taught him. After a few moments the other two went and sat with Sirius and Lily followed wordlessly.

'What's the matter Lil's?' James asked, noticing his girlfriend's confused expression.

'Nothing, it's just you guys act though it's an everyday occurrence for Christmas presents to be thrown at you'

James looked at her for a moment before beginning to laugh

'Well it's not an everyday occurrence, just every year. In first year Sirius decided that he wanted to hand out everybody's presents and we stupidly let him, there were a few minor injuries that year. Every year after that he's just done it, you get used to it after a while.'

'Oh Right', lily said, accepting a gift that Remus was handing her. 'Hey, I just realised Peter isn't here, where is he?'

'His parents wanted him home for Christmas for some reason this year, don't know why though, we've all stayed here for Christmas every year, except that time your parents invited us all over' Remus said looking at James

Lily nodded, 'Why do you all stay here at Christmas, don't you want to be with your families?'

'Well I don't' Sirius said, 'and I don't know, we've just always stayed together at Christmas, it's what we do'.

Half an hour later, all the presents where unwrapped and everybody was sitting around the common room fire talking, eating the candy and chocolate they had received and inspecting their gifts in more detail. Lily was starring at a ruby necklace which James had given her, admiring its beauty.

'Hey, there's one more present under there' Sirius said suddenly, starring at the tree, 'I swear it wasn't there before'.

'Who's it for', James asked curiously

'...All of us'

'What?' The other three said in confusion

Sirius walked back over to his place by the fire and sat down

'It says To James, Lily, Sirius and Remus, I know that you will all enjoy this present. It doesn't say who it's from.'

'That's a bit weird' James said

'A bit, that's a lot weird', Remus said, 'Do you think we should open it?' he asked, looking at James for an idea.

'I guess so', he replied, 'be carefully though' he said to Sirius, looking anxious.

The room was filled with a tense silence as Sirius slowly unwrapped the gift

'What is it?' Remus asked as Sirius drew back the last piece of paper, a look of confusion on his face.

'... A book, actually a series of books, Harry Potter. I've never heard of it, but that doesn't really mean much, Lily, Remus any ideas?'

Everyone in the room looked confused while Remus and Lily both shook their heads, all recognising the familiar last name

'Well if that book about the wizarding world then this is even weirder coz Potters not a very common last name and I know I don't have any relatives by that name.' James said

Any response anybody had to that comment was cut off as there was a bright flash of blue light and a note came floating form it to land on Sirius's lap.

Sirius picked up the note carefully and read out loud, 'Please read each book in turn, starting with the book entitled Harry Potter and the philosophers stone, each book will not open until the one before it is completed. In a few moments you will be receiving four very important presents that will be returned in exactly 12 days from now at midnight.' **(A/N I'm not sure if I'll actually stick to that, it might be longer depending on how long i reckon it will take them****)**

Everyone in the room barely had time to register what the note had said before there was another flash of light and four figures appeared in a heap on the ground. The four people all looked around the same age as the marauders and lily, two of the figures, a boy and a girl had flaming red hair and similar features which made Lily believe they where related, the other girl had long brown hair and looked extremely intelligent, even through her shock at being dumped on the ground. It was the last boy however that caught Lily's attention, he was of average height, wore glasses and had messy black hair, in short, he looked exactly like James. Lily stared in shock at these strangers as they slowly picked themselves up off the ground muttering to each other.

_Harry's POV_

'What the hell' Harry heard Ron's voice over to his left

'I've got no idea', Harry said, picking himself up off the ground, 'are you guys ok?'

Harry heard the mutterings of

'Yeah'

'Fine' from Hermione and Ginny and the sarcastic reply of

'Oh just bloody brilliant' from Ron

'Where do you reckon we ...' harry stopped in mid sentence as he looked around the room and saw the last thing he ever expected to see, his parents, godfather and Remus all starring at him with wide eyes. He quickly withdrew his wand and pointed it straight at his 'father'.

'Who are you?' Harry asked a mixture of anger and sadness in his voice but in a tone that commanded authority.

'What...' Ginny stopped midsentence and starred before following Harry's lead and withdrawing her wand, pointing it at 'Sirius', the other to following suit, though somewhat slower.

'I think it would be more appropriate if you told us you you where first seeing as how you just landed in or common roon and if you wouldn't mind please point your wands some where else' Remus said, being the first to recover from his shock.

Out of the corner of his eye Harry noticed James and Sirius both try to withdraw their wands.

'Don't even think about it' he snarled at them, causing them both to stop what they were doing.

'They...There...Oh my god...'Hermione spluttered

'Seriously after all the crap we've done THIS is what you freak out about' Ron jibbed his girlfriend who Harry saw gave him a scathing look.

'Maybe there the presents the note was talking about', Harry heard his 'mothers' voice try to whisper to 'James' who was standing protectively in front of her.

'What note?' Ginny asked, lowering her wand slightly.

James looked at them for a moment as though deciding whether or not to tell them before saying, 'we received a series of books with a note saying to expect four presents then you appeared'

'What were the books called', Hermione asked

'The first one is Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone'

Harry stared at them in shock.

'Harry, you don't think ...first year...' Hermione said,

'I have no idea, it doesn't explain who they are though' He replied

'I don't think there Death Eaters and it can't be polyjuice, there all so young, the only thing I can think of is time travel but I don't know how'

'What year is it?' Harry asked, addressing James

'1977' James said, slightly confused **(A/N I think this would make them 7****th**** yrs I don't know)**

Harry lowered his wand and the others followed suit

'What's going on!?', Sirius asked, speaking for the first time

'If it is what we think it is, I would like to go someplace more secure before telling you' harry answered his godfather.

'Hell no! I'm not going anywhere with you, you could be a death eater for all we know' Sirius responed in a growl

Harry sighed, of course they suspected him.

'I'm not a Death Eater, for one Sirius I don't have the mark' harry said, showing him his arms.

Sirius was shocked, 'How the hell do you know my name?'

'We know all your names look, you've got to trust me' Harry said, then, getting inspiration, he did the only thing he could think of and threw his wand to James which he caught easily, looking shocked, and the others, after a moment's hesitation followed.

'Now you all have wands and we don't' Harry said and he saw them all relax slightly at this.

'Now, if you want answers can you please come with us to the room of requirement, please' Harry said, looking at his mum noing that if she caved, his dad would come, and Sirius and Remus would follow.

Green eyes meet green as Harry silently pleaded.

'I'm going with them 'Lily said suddenly, not taking her eyes off Harry

James spluttered for a moment but knew there was no point arguing so he conceded to defeat and pulled his wand out.

'Lead the way' he said. Harry smiled and walked out of the portrait hole.

Once inside the room which closely resembled the Gryffindor common room, everyone turned to face each other.

'Ok, start talking' Sirius said.

'Alright so this is weird but just go with it ok' Harry started looking at the four people from the past, 'ok so I'm Harry Potter , this is Ron and Ginny Weasly and Hermione Granger and where from the future, 2005 to be exact **(A/N again, don't know the exact year, just guessing, there from a few months after the war)**' ,harry nodded to each in turn while the people from the past looked shocked, 'those books are apparently about my years here at Hogwarts, and as you may have guessed, James, your my father'.

James was in shock

'Your my son...wow this is weird, you're like the same age as me' James said

'Prongsie, you have a son! I better be godfather' Sirius said, being mock stern

'Yeah, you are Sirius' harry said, causing Sirius's face to light up

'Wow', harry thought, 'I've never seen people change opinions as fast as these guys'

'So you all believe us' Hermione said hopefully

'Yeah, I mean it's a bit weird, time travel and all but Harry hear looks and acts exactly like James so I don't know any other explanation' Sirius said

Harry let out a sigh of relief

'So these books' Harry began saying but James cut him off

'Wait, who's your mother?' He asked, his eyes flashing quickly and hopefully to Lily.

Harry felt a small smile grow on his face.

'I'm sure that will be answered in the first chapter if you read it' Harry replied

Sirius and Remus both laughed at James's pout and Lily looked slightly anxious

'Prongs your son is wicked' Sirius said smiling.

**A/N I know its long but I wanted to establish a bit of the marauders at the start and a lot of these kind of stories I've read, everyone seems to accept what's going on so easily, but I reckon that after all he's been through Harry would be a bit suspicious and the marauders and Lily would be to because of the world they live in. And i'm an aussie and i'll try to get the whole English thing but if i use words or phrases that you don't understand just ask and i'll explain. Also its my first fanfiction so please be nice if you R&R**


	2. The Boy Who Lived

_Disclaimer – don't own anything still _

'Ok, so who wants to read first?' Lily asked when everyone was seated near the fireplace in circle.

'ME, ME, ME!'Sirius cried, jumping in his seat as Remus shook his head at his friends antics

'Ok Sirius, just so you shut up' Lily said, though she couldn't help but smile, she was slowly warming up to him the more time she spent around the marauders.

'Ok so the first chapters called **The Boy Who Lived** I get the feeling that we're not going to like what happens in some of these books' he said, looking to Harry for confirmation who struggled to keep the sadness off his face and motioned for Sirius to continue.

**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four Privet Drive,**

'Why the hell are we reading about them, I thought this was about Harry' Sirius said

'Yeah', James agreed

'Well if you keep reading I'm sure the author will explain' said Hermione, beating Lily to it

Sirius looked at Hermione as though sizing her up and continued

**Where proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

'I guess they didn't rub off on you then' Ron whispered to Harry, smirking.

**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a rather large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.**

'Nosey' James muttered under his breath

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secrete, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

'I'm related to those stuck up people?!' James shouted and Remus and Sirius gave him sympathetic looks.

**Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursleys sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

'Oh my god' lily suddenly said

'What' James asked her, a concerned look on his face?

'It's probably not right, but that sounds a lot like my sister and the man she's dating, she hates magic, she hasn't spoken to me since I came to Hogwarts'

'Wait that means your Mrs Potter, I MARRY LILY EVANS!' James shouted and got up and began dancing, lily blushed and told him to sit down.

'Nice score' Sirius said to James, 'I better be best man' to which he nodded.

'So Harry, Lily's your mum right' James asked

Harry nodded in confirmation and Lily rushed over and hugged him tight, only letting go when James pulled her off saying that she was chocking him.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son too, but they had never seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

'Like we would want to visit you anyway', James said holding his soon-to-be-wife close, 'And who names a kid Dudley', causing everybody to laugh.

**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his highchair.**

**None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half-past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. 'Little tyke,' chortled Mr Dursley**

'More like little brat' Ginny muttered causing everyone to laugh and Sirius to tilt his head to the side with a strange expression on his face.

'What?' Ginny asked noticing the look

'Nothing, you just remind me a bit of Evans, that's all' Sirius replied, Ginny blushed at this.

**As he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr Dursley didn't realise what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but no map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr Dursley drove around the corner up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said **_**Privet Drive**_** – no looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

'Well either that was an animagus or Dursley's seeing things' Remus said

'I bet it was McGonagall 'Sirius said looking at Remus, 'come on, a gallon'

'How can you know if it was McGonagall? But hey if you want to waste your money I could always use it. A gallon.' Remus replied before shaking hands with Sirius.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

'Wizards' all the guys in the room said while all the girls said 'witches'.

**Mr Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes –the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes's standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something ... yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.**

'I'm really starting to not like this guy' Remus said

'Only now, I haven't liked him since this book started', Sirius replied

Harry smiled at his god father and Remus

'Keep reading Padfoot' he said

Sirius stared at him for a moment, 'You know my nickname' he half asked, half stated

'Of course I do', Harry said, 'I know all of your nicknames, and the reasons for them'

Remus paled dramatically, staring at Harry in horror.

'You know? Everything?' Remus managed to choke out

'Yeah', Harry said, smiling at him, which brought the colour back to Remus's face and caused Lily to look very confused.

'When did you find out?' James asked

Harry smiled at his father, 'You'll just have to read it in the books', he said, Sirius began pouting again.

'What are you all talking about? James?'Lily asked

James paled slightly, looking at his fearsome girlfriend, 'Well, umm, you see' James started stuttering

'How about we discuss this at the end of this book' Hermione suggested, coming to James's rescue

'Fine, but you guys better tell me' Lily replied, giving the marauders a threatening look

**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, the people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night-time.**

'That's weird, if their post owls then something seriously big must have happened.' Remus said, slightly anxious.

'Yeah, I remember my parents said when Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, there was owls flying everywhere, the ministry was worried that our secrete might get out.' James said, a knot forming in his stomach

**Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls**

'What's a telephone' Sirius asked

'Muggle thing that you use to talk to people' Lily answered shortly

**And shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunch time, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker's opposite**

'Bet he's a regular there' Ron said, causing everyone to laugh

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin.**

'There really risking our secrete walking around in cloaks in the muggle world' Hermione said.

**It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

'**The potters, that's right, that's what I heard –'**

'**-yes, their son Harry-'**

'Hey you guys are mentioned!' Sirius said, unsure of whether this was good or bad

Ginny noticing Harry's uneasiness reached out for his hand and held it tight, going unnoticed by the by the people in the future

**Mr Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whispered as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache thinking...**

'Is anybody else getting an image of a walrus with a moustache?' Ron asked.

Everyone in the room stared at him for a moment before erupting into laughter.

**...no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name.**

'Actually it is' James said

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter with a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was**_** called Harry.**

'I still don't think he knows' Harry whispered in Ginny's ear

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her –if he'd had a sister like that ... but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

'**Sorry,' he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare: 'don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!**

The room had fell into a shocked silence.

'Did you just say that Voldemort had gone?' James asked Sirius

'That's what the book says' Sirius replied quietly

The people from the past looked at the kids from the future Hermione was the first one to speak up, looking to Harry for confirmation to what she was saying 'We can't tell you anything that happens in the book. Just keep reading Sirius'

**And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off**

**Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had just been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was no sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

'**Shoo!' said Mr Dursley loudly**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

'See, that's McGonagall' Sirius said to Remus, trying to lighten the atmosphere that had been tense ever since the revelation that Voldemort had disappeared.

'Just because it gave Dursley a stern look doesn't prove it's her' Remus said

'Come on, what other cat would do that'

**Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (Shan't). Mr Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

'**And finally, bird watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern.' The news reader allowed himself a grin. 'Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?'**

'**Well Ted,' said the weatherman,' I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early – it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet one tonight.'**

'That's pretty bad, if those things are on the news' Remus said to no one in particular

**Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper of the Potters...**

**Mrs Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. 'Err – Petunia, dear – you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?'**

**As he expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all they usually pretended she didn't have a sister.**

'She really hates me doesn't she' Lily said, a tear falling out of her eye and rolling down her cheek.

Everyone looked sadly at lily. James held his girlfriend close, having no idea what to say to her, kissed her softly on the head.

'Its ok guys, really, just keep reading Sirius; I want to know what happens' Lily said, wiping the tear off her face.

'**No,' she said sharply. 'Why?'**

'**Funny stuff on the news,' Mr Dursley mumbled. 'Owls ... shooting stars ... and there was a lot of funny-looking people in town today ...'**

'**So?' snapped Mrs Dursley.**

'**Well, I just thought ... maybe ... it was something to do with ... you know ... **_**her lot.'**_

**Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her that he'd heard the name 'Potter'. He decided that he didn't dare.**

'Wimp' Sirius and Ron both said before looking at each other.

**Instead he said, as casually as he could, 'Their son – he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?'**

'**I suppose so,' said Mrs Dursley stiffly.**

'**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?'**

'**Harry. Nasty common name if you ask me.'**

'This coming from the woman who named her child Dudley' James scoffed

'**Oh, yes,' said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. 'Yes, I quite agree.'**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did ... if it got out that they were related to a pair of – well he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last comforting thought before he fell asleep was even if the Potters **_**were **_**involved; there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... he couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn't affect them...**

'Wow was he wrong,' Harry muttered

**How very wrong he was.**

**Mr Dursley may have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as ****still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. **

'How is that even possible, you have to blink' Sirius said, interrupting himself.

'It's a figure of speech Padfoot' Remus said patiently, used to his friends stupid questions.

**It didn't so much as quiver ****when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. **

'How does that work?' Hermione asked, 'I mean if they appearated there would have been a noise'

She looked around the room, seeing if anybody had an answer, but everyone looked just as confused as she was.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore. **

'Not that I don't like Dumbledore, but what is he doing there' Lily asked, her voice quivering slightly

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." **

'It's McGonagall' Sirius said in a singsong voice

'We still don't know that' Remus said, though he was starting to doubt himself.

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. **

'Wow, what is that!' Sirius said, excitedly

Ron was about to open his mouth and answer, but stern looks from Hermione, Harry and Ginny made him quickly shut up.

**He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. **

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." **

'HA! Told you Remus, now pay up,' Sirius shouted, poking his tongue out at his friend.

'Fine,' Remus grumbled, handing over his money.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked. **

'What other cat would glare at someone?' Sirius said.

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly." **

'Or that,' Sirius said

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall. **

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." **

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. **

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." **

'It really isn't too good when the muggles start noticing things, there usually pretty unobservant,' Remus said

**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense." **

'Diggle,' James said, 'I've heard of him, apparently he's a bit of an idiot, stupid than Sirius anyway'

'Oi!' Sirius shouted indignant.

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

'Eleven years...wait, that means this will all be happening in just a few years' Lily said softly, still unsure on whether that was good or bad.

'Thank god. Only a few more years and we can live in peace... I wonder what that's like,' Sirius said, smiling a little.

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours." **

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really **_**has **_**gone, Dumbledore?" **

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. **

'Thank God,' all the people from the past said while the people from the future looked grim.

"**We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

'A What?' Sirius questioned

"**A **_**what**_**?" **

'Ok, that's just freaky if I'm starting to think like Minnie' he said

'Minnie?' Harry questioned, Sirius just shrugged.

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of." **

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_**has **_**gone —" **

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **_**Voldemort**_**."**

Harry looked around the room, at the mention of Voldemort, seeing if anybody would flinch at the name. Lily's hand twitched slightly but that was the only sign of fear. He supposed that his godfather and Remus were just as fearless now as they were in the future and

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name." "I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, **_**Voldemort**_**, was frightened of." **

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have." **

"**Only because you're too — well —**_**noble **_**to use them." **

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." **

'That's not a couple I ever want to pitcher together,' Sirius said, shivering slightly at the mental image he was getting.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the **_**rumours **_**that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" **

'What, What, What,' Sirius questioned, while Remus gave him a look that clearly said 'your an idiot'.

'You do realise you're the one reading the book right,' Ginny said, beating Remus to it.

'Oh...Right'.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. **

"**What they're **_**saying**_**," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. **

'He What?!' James and Sirius both shouted, James pulling Lily in protectively to him who had began shaking.

'But why, why would he come after us personally?' James asked

**The rumour is that Lily and James Potter are— are**

Sirius stopped dead, his hands shaking violently

'There what Sirius?' Remus questioned, his voice shaking, dreading what would make Sirius act like this for he knew only one possible answer

— **that they're — **_**dead**_**." **

Sirius read this last sentence, his voice breaking slightly at the end.

Remus hung his head, his hands shaking.

'No,' James said, looking at Harry frantically who had such sadness in his eyes he knew it was no mistake, he hugged lily even tighter than before, whispering comfortingly to her as she cried silently into his chest. He looked over at his to best friends, Remus was staring at his hands which he seemed to be unable to stop shaking and Sirius just stared at James, tears running down his face, though through his overwhelming sadness James also saw rage building deep inside him, and he knew that if he didn't calm Sirius down he would run straight out of the room and begin hunting for Voldemort, wanting to rip him to shreds.

After a few minutes, Sirius and Remus both came other and put a hand each on James and Lily's shoulder, unable to comfort their friends in any other way. Lily lifted her head from James's chest and looked at Harry who she noticed had a tear in his eye, Ginny holding him tight. She slowly released herself from James who she knew had to be with his friends for a few minutes and walked over to her son, taking Ginny's place and hugging him tightly while James had pulled Sirius into a brotherly hug.

Around 10 minutes passed before the sombre room moved back to their seats and Sirius picked up the book, staring at it as though it had caused one of his best friends to die.

'Would you like me to read?' Hermione asked quietly

Sirius shook his head and began reading again.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. **

"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

'I never knew she cared,' James said, though trying to be sarcastic, the effect was punchered by the sadness in his voice.

'Not about you Prongs, we all know she adores Lily though,' Sirius said, attempting to lighten the mood.

'Nah, I reckon she always liked you to a bit. I mean you never got expelled did you,' Remus said to James and Sirius, a small laugh going around the room

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily. **

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. **

A tear rolled down Lily's cheek again before she brushed it away, 'Nothing happened, he's here, nothing happened,' she muttered to herself.

**But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone." **

'You, you what?' James said, staring at his son with wide eyes, 'I mean I knew he couldn't have killed you, you're here, but that ... bloody hell'

'That's pretty damn amazing Harry, you got rid of the most evil guy ever. I don't know what to say' Sirius said, staring at Harry as well

'Yeah, and that's rare,' Lily teased softly

'So I guess we know where the chapter title came from then,' Remus stated, the others nodding, still staring at Harry in wonder, but for once in his life it didn't bother him much.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly. **

"**It's — it's **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

'I think everyone in the wizarding world is wondering that, including us' Remus said, staring at Harry questioningly who just shook his head.

"**We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

'But you guys know,' Sirius whined to the people from the future, beginning to act like himself again.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?" **

'HAGRID!' the marauders all shouted excitedly

Lily smiled for a moment but then it slipped slightly, 'wait, why is Hagrid going there?' she asked staring at Harry who got the feeling that she had put the pieces together.

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why **_**you're here, of all places?" **

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now." **

'WHAT!' the people from the past all yelled, though James and Lily's voices could both be heard louder than the other twos, anger and loathing clearly displayed on their faces.

'There is no way in HELL that I am letting my son live with those people, even if it is my sister,' Lily said angrily, everyone nodding their heads in agreement.

'Any where would be better than with them, and where the hell are me and Moony, we should be the ones to get him, right?' Sirius asked, looking at James and Lily who both nodded.

"**You don't mean – you **_**can't **_**mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!" **

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter." **

'The best place for him?! He's finally lost it! When I get my hands on Dumbledore...' James said

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**

'Exactly, how is he, this is too big for a letter.' Lily said

'Well can you imagine what would happen if he turned up to try to explain all this...It would be pretty entertaining to watch' Sirius said with a dreamy look, attempting to cheer everyone in the room up a bit.

**These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future — there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!" **

'Yeah, and with Prongs for his father he would have to be extra careful he didn't turn into an attention seeking idiot,' Remus said

'Hey, I resent that,' James said, pouting to Remus

'Oi, that's my line!' Sirius said, joining in. **(A/N I was reading a marauder fanfic that I can't remember what's called and Sirius said that a lot so I thought I'd throw it in ****)**

'Not a word James,' Lily said to him before he could retort to Sirius.

'You're so whipped,' Sirius muttered to James and began reading before he could retort.

"**Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?" **

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it. **

"**Hagrid's bringing him." **

"**You think it —**_**wise **_**— to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

'Hagrid's one of the most trustworthy people I know.' James said indignantly

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. **

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?" **

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them. **

'That is so awesome!' Sirius said, 'I'm gonna get one.'

'Maybe it is yours,' James said, he wouldn't but it past his best friend to get something like that.

'No way,' Remus said, 'even Sirius wouldn't get something like that' he thought.

'I agree with Prongs, its mine' Sirius said confidently

'I bet you both a gallon its not,'

'All right,' they both said confidently.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_**wild **_**— long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?" **

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

'Damn,' Remus said, handing both James and Sirius their winnings who where grinning like mad.

'You know Moony, I'm actually offended, you apparently don't know me at all,' Sirius said, attempting to keep a straight face but failing.

'I just thought even you wouldn't get something like that, but don't worry, I'll remember this for next time'

"**No problems, were there?" **

"**No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

'Aw, isn't that cute', Ron jibbed Harry, who shot him a glare he clearly got from his mum who was giving him a similar look. This caused Ron to quickly back down, having more than enough experience with the wrath of red heads.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

'If your gonna have a scar, that's a pretty cool shaped one to have', Sirius said, noticing it on Harry for the first time.

"**Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall. **

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." **

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?" **

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with." **

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. **

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog. **

'Hey, wounded dogs don't sound that bad', Sirius said indignantly

'Apparently you've never heard one then', James replied

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!" **

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —" **

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

'They left you on a door step. Damn that's harsh', Sirius said.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out. **

'You know things a bad when that happens', Remus said, everyone nodding in agreement

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations." **

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir." **

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night. **

'I can't wait till I get that', Sirius said, bouncing up and down on the couch.

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply. **

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. **

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. **

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

'That's the end of the chapter', Sirius said, putting the book down, 'Now. Let's eat!'

'Your thinking of food at a time like this', Lily said angrily

James put an arm around her shoulder, 'Lil's, this is Sirius where talking about. There'd be something wrong if he wasn't hungry', he said laughing as Sirius started bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement at the prospect of food.


	3. the Vanishing Glass

_Disclaimer – Don't own anything, all J.K's_

**A/N – last chapter i had mainly the marauders and Lily talking coz i figured that they'd have more to say then the others, but i'll try to and them in more this time. Also there will be spoilers.**

The marauders and Lily returned to the room of requirement 10 minutes later carrying a mountain of food that they had got from the kitchens. James had convinced Lily that before she left school, she needed to visit the kitchens at least once, and she reluctantly agreed.

'I can't believe were gonna miss out on the Christmas feast', Sirius complained when everyone had begun eating, everybody in the room looked at him incredulously.

'Where reading about Harry's life, I think that's a bit more important than food Sirius', Lily said angrily.

'I'm not saying it isn't, I'm just saying where gonna miss out on some really good food.'

'I can't believe it, he's thinking about food, _while_ he's eating. He's as bad as you Ron', Ginny teased.

A muffled 'Hey', was all Ron could get out as he shoved another spoon full of pie into his mouth.

'You get used to it after a while,' Remus said, 'And you also learn you don't stand in between food and a hungry Sirius.'

'Yeah, we learnt that one the hard way', James said, while everyone in the room laughed.

'Hey, I just thought of something,' Hermione said suddenly, food halfway to her mouth, 'you're on Christmas holidays right so what happens when you have to go back to school?'

Everyone stared at her, this thought not having occurred to them yet.

'Well, we still have today and then another four days before we have to go back so I guess we'll figure it out then', Lily said. **(A/N in my mind they have Christmas day on Wednesday, boxing day off , teachers see no point in going back for one day so they have that off, and then the weekend)**

'So do you want to keep reading now?' Hermione asked when all of the food had been devoured (mainly by Ron and Sirius who where now fighting over the last bit of chicken).

There was a murmur of agreement around the room, and everyone went to sit back down.

'May I read next', Remus asked politely.

'Of course'.

'This chapter is tilted **The Vanishing Glass**', Remus said

'Is that like accidental magic or something', Sirius asked looking at Harry who smiled mysteriously at him, causing Sirius to pout.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets**

Sirius snorted in laughter, 'This authors got away with words'.

— **but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. **

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. **

"**Up! Get up! Now!" **

'Just what you want to hear first thing in the morning,' Ron remarked

'Trust me, Petunias voice first thing in the morning is horrible, I would rather listen to... well anything else really', Lily said.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. **

"**Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

'Wow, you actually remember that, even if you did think it was a dream, i can't remember anything from when i was that young. Not that I'd really want to', Sirius said

**His aunt was back outside the door. **

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded. **

"**Nearly," said Harry. **

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." **

**Harry groaned. **

'I'm thinking his birthday isn't a jolly good old time for you then', Sirius questioned sarcastically.

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door. **

"**Nothing, nothing…" **

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider**

**off one of them,**

'Did you have to mention spiders?' Ron asked, shivering, he had always hated them and his experiences with them at school had done nothing to change his mind.

**put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept. **

'You slept where', everyone in the room shouted, including Ron, Hermione and Ginny. They all stared at Harry, unbelievably

'I ... umm', Harry looked at everyone in the room, shocked by their reactions at where he had slept, in particular his mothers whose face was glowing red with anger.

'She made you sleep in a cupboard?' Lily questioned Harry who nodded meekly, 'When I get my hands on Petunia I'm going to rip her limb from limb.'

'I would love to help you with that Lily', Sirius said, just as furious as Lily and James who was unable to speak he was so angry.

'Why didn't you tell us about this?' Hermione demanded

'It just never really came up', harry mumbled

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

'I don't know what those things are but I'm guessing there pretty damn expensive, the spoiled little pig', James muttered angrily. Harry burst out laughing at what he knew was to come with Dudley growing a pig's tail and everyone in the room looked at him.

'Sorry, it's just something that happens a bit later in the book' he said.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

'If that somebody is you...' Lily said, still furious.

**Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast**.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. **

'Actually it's just one of the many horrible things you where bound to inherit from James, if only you looked more like Lily', Sirius said jokingly, lifting the mood a bit as James slapped him over the back of the head **(A/N you have no idea how tempted i was to write Gibbs slapped then – fans of NCIS will know what i'm talking about****)**

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair, and bright green eyes.**

As Remus read this, Harry looked over at his parents and saw James staring dreamily into Lily's green eyes, he looked away quickly, It was strange to see his parents like this...actually it was strange to see them at all.

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Sellotape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. **

'You actually like that scar?' Remus said, thinking of why he had it.

'Well at the time I didn't mind it', harry replied, 'now, not so much'

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it. **

"**In the car crash when your parents died," she had said.**

'SHE TOLD YOU WE DIED IN A CAR CRASH!' Lily shouted, her face glowing bright red again and James tried to calm her down. Though he was furious himself, he was very accomplished at hiding his emotions from all the years of Lily rejecting him and tying not to show how much it hurt.

'Wait so you didn't know you where a wizard?' Remus asked

Harry shook his head, 'I had no idea, at least for a bit longer.'

"**And don't ask questions." **

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. **

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

'I'm pretty sure that won't help', Remus said, looking at both James and Harry

'Not in the slightest', They both replied.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place. **

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. **

'So the kid looks like a pig, his father looks like a walrus, what does his mother look like, any one', Sirius asked as everyone laughed, the mood of everyone improving.

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. **

'So much for Harry and Prongs being alike, I think it's more me and him,' Sirius said, looking suggestively at Lily who scolded at him

'Don't even think about it', James said, narrowing his eyes at his friend who just laughed

'Don't worry James; I think it's more Ron and Sirius that are alike anyway.' Remus said

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. **

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year." **

'Thirty-six!' Sirius exclaimed, 'Even Regulus doesn't get that many presents.'

"**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy." **

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over. **

'I wouldn't put it past him, that kids such a brat', James said

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?" **

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…" **

'He's a brat and an idiot!' Ron said.

'I can't believe my sister raised such a horrible child', Lily said.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then." **

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. **

"**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair. **

'There encouraging that?' Remus said

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. **

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. **

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction. **

'Do they ever call you by your name?' Ron asked, he knew they had treated Harry horribly, but this was worse than he had imagined.

'There's the rare occasion, but usually it's him, you or boy', Harry replied, while Lily looked even angrier.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. **

'That is horrible. I hate cats', Sirius said

Ron, Hermione and Harry all glanced at each other before quickly looking away, trying not to laugh, thinking of what Sirius would say when they reached third year.

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. **

'Thats not very nice Harry', Lily said trying to be stern but failing, she did see his point of view.

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. **

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

'The feelings mutual', Harry muttered

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. **

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?" **

"**On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia. **

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

'That's not going to happen', Sirius said bitterly

'It was worth a shot', Harry shrugged

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. **

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled. **

'Do they think you're going to blow the house up or something?' James said exasperated at their cruelty

"**I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

'That was weird', Remus said

'See he is like me', James said, sticking his tongue out at Sirius.

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…" **

'You're not even allowed to do that to dogs. ITS ILLEGAL PETUNIA!' Lily said, yelling at the book. Everyone stared at her after her outburst, causing her to blush.

'Save the dogs!' Sirius yelled dramatically, making everyone laugh and getting an odd look from Lily.

Sirius looked at the kids from the future. 'So all of them know' he thought, wondering how they would've found out.

"**That car's new; he's not sitting in it alone…" **

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted. **

"**Dinky Duddydums, **

'Dinky Duddydums', Sirius repeated, then burst out laughing along with everyone else.

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him. **

"**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. **

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. **

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. **

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

"**I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas." **

'They would seriously do that?' Remus asked amazed.

Harry nodded, everyone was stunned, even Sirius couldn't make a Serious/Sirius joke.

"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…" **

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen. **

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his fringe, which she left "to hide that horrible scar."**

'That's harsh', Sirius said. He loved his hair and couldn't stand it if someone did something like that to him.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. **

'You grew it back with accidental magic?' Hermione asked, she hadn't heard this part of Harry's life before.

Harry shrugged.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

'Petunia should have known it was accidental, she shouldn't have punished you, she saw what I could do when I was a kid', Lily said

'I think that was the reason', Harry said quietly

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). **

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a glove puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. **

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. **

'That's pretty funny, and lucky, that jumper was disgusting', Ginny said

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. **

'How the hell did you do that,' Sirius asked shocked, 'I mean it sounds like you apperated but you can't have... can you'

'Either, that or I flew', Harry said shrugging

'But you can't fly without a broom', Lily said

'Actually, you can', He said, looking away as the people from the past began to look at him questioningly.

'Either way, that's a seriously strong bit of accidental magic', Remus said

'How am I a strong bit of accidental magic?' Sirius questioned, causing everyone to groan.

'Hey, do you think it was because of Voldermorts soul that I had such powerful accidental magic', Harry muttered in Ginny's ear while the others where ripping off Sirius.

Ginny twisted around to face Harry, 'Maybe, but I don't think so, your still really powerful even without it' she answered.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

'You've got to admit, that was a pretty lame excuse, it's even worse than some of the ones Sirius comes up with', Remus said.

'I got better in time', Harry said, trying to defend himself

'So you get in more trouble?' Lily asked, a sever look on her face

'Of course he did Lil's, he's the son and god son of two of the marauders', James said, trying to get her to relax.

'And the two most outrageous ones at that', Remus muttered.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room. **

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorbikes.**

'There's nothing wrong with them', Sirius grumbled

"… **roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them. **

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying." **

'That wasn't too smart, I guess you got James's looks as well as his brains', Lily said, causing James to pout at her.

'Hey, I'm smart' James said.

'Of course you are', Lily answered, motioning for Remus to read

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!" **

**Dudley and Piers sniggered. **

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." **

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas. **

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. **

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond. **

'So are we changing him from a pig to a gorilla?' Sirius asked referring to their previous conversation.

'Oh no. He's still a pig', Harry replied smiling to himself.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him. **

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbockers glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. **

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

'Do you ever have good luck?' James asked. The people from the future except Harry laughed causing the people from the past to look uneasy.

'I have luck that goes to the extremes of both ways', Harry answered. This just caused them to change their expressions from uneasy to confused.

'I can have extremely good luck and extremely bad luck', Harry answered.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. **

Harry felt a knot form in his stomach, he knew what was coming, and couldn't help but fear what his parents, and especially Sirius were going to say.

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. **

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. **

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. **

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. **

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. **

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. **

**It winked.**

'It winked?' James said confused. Ginny reached out for Harry's hand, she knew he was dreading this next part.

Harry looked at the people from the past. He saw realisation dawn on Remus's face, but one look at Harry was enough to shut him up.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. **

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: **

"**I get that all the time." **

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." **

**The snake nodded vigorously. **

'You're a parselmouth', James said and everyone looked shocked.

Harry felt the blood drain from his face as they stared

'How, I thought it was a family thing, and no one in my family has ever been a one'

'I can't tell you, it gets brought up later on'

James nodded, 'Don't worry,' he said smiling, 'It doesn't change who you are.'

Harry felt like any enormous weight had been lifted off his chest

'As true as that is harry it's still creepy', Sirius said smiling causing everyone to laugh.

"**Where do you come **

**almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. **

'That's the killing curse', **from, anyway?" Harry asked. **

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. **

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil. **

"**Was it nice there?" **

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" **

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. **

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. **

'Oi!' Sirius yelled.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. **

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

'Wicked', James and Sirius both said, reminding Harry strongly of the Weasly twins, which caused him a stab of pain at the thought of Fred's death. **(A/N – they say it in one of the movies together, i think it's the 4****th****, not sure about the books)**

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. **

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo." **

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. **

"**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" **

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. **

'Do they know that he's a parselmouth?' Sirius questioned.

'I doubt they'd know what it's called, but they'd know it was magic', lily replied sadly.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. **

'Defiantly the son of a marauder', James said smirking

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents died in a car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain in his forehead.**

'That was the killing curse', Remus said quietly, staring at Harry.

'You, you survived the killing curse', James said amazed, 'But how?'

'You find out a bit latter on', Harry replied, his eyes flickering to his mum for a split second.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. **

'So you don't remember anything' Lily said sadly.

Harry shook his head, 'The things I know about you are only because of what people have told me and their memories', he said, thinking of Snape. Lily and James both rushed over to hug Harry tightly.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. **

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; **

'Where the hell am I', Sirius asked, mainly to himself. Harry was dreading reading about his third year most of all, it was going to be hell for Remus, Sirius and James to hear that one of their best friends betrayed them**.**

**The Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. **

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look. **

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

'That's unlucky, but hey, the wizarding world knows who you are, there bound to love you', Sirius said

Harry quickly looked at Ron and then looked away.

'That was the end of the chapter, who wants to read next. Ron?' Remus said.


	4. The Letters From No One

_Disclaimer – Still don't own anything _

_**A/N Sorry i haven't updated but i have just restarted school after the summer holidays where i got an extra month off **____** Seriously, year 11, so stressful already and i've only been back 2 days.**_

"**Letters From No One," **Ron read

'Hey, you'd be starting school soon wouldn't you', Remus asked Harry, realising what the chapter title must mean.

'Awesome! You can finally get away from the Dursleys', Sirius shouted.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches. **

'That's Horrible!', Both Lily and Hermione shouted at the same time.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. **

The group laughed at that.

'Well I guess that's how it usually works in groups', Sirius said

'Well then why aren't you the leader of the marauders', Lily asked teasingly.

Everyone began laughing again as Sirius pouted at Lily.

'Why I ever approved of you and Prongs dating I'll never know', Sirius muttered

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite sport: Harry Hunting. **

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny. **

'Was there anything he didn't tease you about', Ginny questioned.

Harry pretended to think for a moment, '...No...I don't think so... I really couldn't care less though, it meant I could actually make some friends for once, or at least I hoped I could' He said.

'Of course you would Harry, you're a lovely boy', Lily said motherly

"**They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?" **

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said. **

The room was again filled with laughter at that.

'You've got quite a mouth Harry', Remus said

'I guess that's another quality he picked up from the both of them', Sirius said

'Hey!', Lily and James both said

'Come on, you've been in enough arguments to know what can come out of each other's mouths', Sirius said.

'Well the things he says only get better as he got older', Hermione commented, smiling at Harry.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. **

**Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years. **

'Harry!' Sirius said outraged, 'Never talk about food like that!'

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life. **

'How is hitting each other going to help them later in life', Ron said confused.

'I guess it's kinda like us learning how to duel', Remus said, though he sounded as though he wasn't even convinced by that argument.

'At any rate, they might nock Dudley out', Sirius said

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh. **

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water. **

"**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question. **

"**Your new school uniform," she said. **

**Harry looked in the bowl again. **

"**Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

'Ok, the sarcasm defiantly came from Lily', Sirius said

"**Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished." **

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. **

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably. **

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table. **

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat. **

"**Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper. **

"**Make Harry get it." **

"**Get the mail, Harry." **

"**Make Dudley get it." **

"**Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley." **

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — **_**a letter for Harry**_**. **

'Hogwarts Letter', Sirius said in a sing-song voice

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake: **

_**Mr. H. Potter **_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs 4 Privet Drive **_

_**Little Whinging **_

_**Surrey**_

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. **

**There was no stamp. **

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter **_**H**_**. **

"**Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke. **

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter.**

'No! They'll take it!' James and Sirius both yelled

**He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. **

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard. **

"**Marge's**

**ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…" **

"**Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!" **

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter,which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon. **

"**That's **_**mine**_**!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back. **

"**Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge. **

"**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped. **

'So they know about Hogwarts but don't want you to go', Lily said outraged

'Why the hell not, it would get you away from them, i thought thats what they wanted', Sirius said while James tried to get Lily to calm down.

'I guess they were worried about what I'd be able to do if I came here', Harry said.

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise. **

"**Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!"**

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick. **

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly. **

'And that is what happens when you raise a spoiled brat', Lily muttered

"_**I **_**want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's **_**mine**_**." **

"**Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope. **

**Harry didn't move. **

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

'Defiantly got Lily's temper', Sirius smirked as Lily glared at him

'Prongs can get pretty mad to though, remember that massive fight with him and Bellatrix a few years ago', Remus said.

'Oh yeah, I thought he was going to punch her, which is saying something coz Prongs would never hit a lady', Sirius joked trying not to get fired up at the mention of his Death-Eater cousin.

'Trust me, you would too if you heard what she was saying', James replied, a dark look coming over his face that Lily had never seen before.

'What did she say, you never told us', Remus asked

'Nothing that I would ever repeat', James replied darkly.

"**Let **_**me **_**see it!" demanded Dudley. **

"**OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry,**

'I guess we should just feel lucky that he never got the idea to sit on you, the fat lard', Sirius said, causing everyone to laugh and James's mood to brighten somewhat.

**his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor. **

"**Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?" **

"**Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —" **

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. **

"**No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…" **

'They seriously think ignoring it will do any good', Ron snorted

'I guess there even stupider than we thought', Sirius said

'Actually, the really stupid bit comes up a bit later', Harry said

ar

"**But —" **

"**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

'Stamp it out?' Remus said, 'You can't just _stamp_ out magic, maybe that why you're accidental magic is so powerful, because it's been repressed for so long'

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard. **

"**Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?" **

"**No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. **

"**I have burned it." **

"**It was **_**not **_**a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it." **

"**SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. **

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful. **

"**Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom. **

'THAT BRAT HAD TWO ROOMS AND YOU WERE STUCK IN THAT BLOODY CUPBOARD!' Lily screamed, her eyes flashed dangerously and everyone in the room flinched away from her except James who had much personal experience with the red heads anger. He reached tentivly over to touch Lily, but thought better of it and stayed silent and still, letting her rage.

"**Why?" said Harry. **

'You're questioning that?' James said

'Well you would too, it was the first nice thing they'd done in ten years', Harry replied

Everyone looked sad at that.

"**Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now." **

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors **

'THEY HAD A GUEST BEDROOM ASWELL!' Lily shouted, her rage building again. She stood and began passing furiously, Harry and James both watched her concerned.

**(usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbour's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite program had been cancelled;**

'There are only so many times you can call this kid a brat before he just turns into a full on arse', Ginny said acidly. Her face was bright red from anger at what had been said previously.

**there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched. **

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't **_**want **_**him in there… I **_**need **_**that room… make him get out…"**

'Wow, he didn't get something he wanted. Miracles must be real', Ron said

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it. **

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly. **

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. **

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand. **

"**Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go." **

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan. **

'And the marauder genes begin to show', Sirius said smirking

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights. **

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door — **

"**AAAAARRRGH!" **

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something **_**alive**_**! **

There was a muttering of 'Damn' around the room.

'At least you got to stand on him', James said

'Always thinking of the positives James'

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink. **

"**I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. **

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. **

**He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot. **

"**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver **_**them they'll just give up." **

"**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon." **

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him. **

'Is he starting to go crazy', Sirius asked

Harry nodded causing Sirius to grin evilly.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. **

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises. **

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor. **

"**Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you **_**this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

'I was thinking the same thing actually.' Harry said

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. **

"**No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —" **

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one — **

"**Out! OUT!" **

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. **

'Seriously', James said, shooting Sirius a 'don't even think about it' look as he opened his mouth, 'How did you get the letter, they really don't want you to get it'

Harry smiled at him, he actually preferred how he found out, in the end, he might not have met Hagrid otherwise.

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. **

"**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" **

**He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the motorway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag. **

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. **

"**Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

'Defiantly gone mad', Ron muttered

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer. **

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering… **

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. **

"'**Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." **

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address: **

_**Mr. H. Potter **_

_**Room 17 **_

_**Railview Hotel **_

_**Cokeworth **_

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared. **

"**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room. **

"**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

'Doesn't he realise its pointless to try and run? I mean even Petunia worked that one out', Lily said having sat back down next to James after her pacing.

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage. **

"**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. **

'If Dudley even realises it, then he must be bad'

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. **

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled. **

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television**_**." **

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it **_**was **_**Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. **

'Happy Birthday Harry', everyone yelled

'You guys do know that it's only my birthday in the book right', Harry said chuckling

'That actually reminds me', James said, looking at the kids from the future, 'How old are you guys'

'Well me, Ron and Hermione are all 18 and Gin's 17'

'That's trippy, my sons older than me'

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year; the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. **

'Ewww', Hermione said screwing up her nose

**Still, you weren't eleven every day. **

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. **

'It's really freaking me out that he's smiling', Sirius said.

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought. **

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!" **

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain; there was no television in there. **

'He's going to make you all stay on that rock?' Remus asked

'Yep. He was really desperate', Harry said

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" **

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them. **

"**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!" **

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house. **

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms. **

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. **

'Great rations, that's really gonna last you', Sirius said sarcastically

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up. **

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. **

**Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all. **

Everyone in the room smirked at this, knowing perfectly well that a storm wouldn't stop the letters from being delivered.

'You're not really a 'look at the positives' kinda guy are you', James asked

'Never really had any positives to look at', Harry replied

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket. **

'There weren't really too many soft bits on the floor', Harry commented.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now. **

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. **

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow. **

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea? **

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him **

'That would be funny'

— **three… two… one… **

**BOOM. **

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

'Who is it?' Sirius asked excitedly

'Don't know' Ron replied, a small smile forming, 'That's the end of the chapter.'

_**A/N – hoped you liked it. I would like your opinions though on when you think the people from the past should find out about Ginny and Harry & Ron and Hermione. Please Read and Review **___


	5. The Keeper of the Keys

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. **_

_**A/N So for those that are actually reading this story, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, I'm just realising how hectic life gets when you start yr 11, so between school, homework, work, my friends and those times I just can't be bothered to write, It's been a while. Anyway, I'll try to get a few more chapters up over the next few days so enjoy **___

"**The Keeper of the Keys," **Hermione read.

'Hey, isn't that Hagrid?' James asked

'Nah, he's Game keeper isn't he', Sirius replied

'Well, he might be both'

'No way, why would he be visiting Harry'

'Don't know'

'A gallon?'

'Alright'

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. **

"**Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them. **

'HE BROUGHT A GUN!' Lily screamed, 'I can't believe he would do something so stupid, he could kill someone!'

'It's ok, Lily, I'm sure everyone will be fine', James said, trying to get his girlfriend to calm down.

"**Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!" **

**There was a pause. Then — **

**SMASH! **

'Come on Hermione, you've gotta yell things like that, make it more exciting', Sirius pouted

'Sorry Sirius, I'm just not one for yelling', Hermione replied. Harry snorted at this, but quickly covered it by a cough as Hermione gave him a death stare.

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. **

**A giant of a man **

'That's Hagrid', James said smugly

'Come on, there hasn't even been a description', Sirius scoffed

'How many other people that big would there be that work at Hogwarts?' James asked

'Umm'

**was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair. **

Remus and James looked at each other, 'Hagrid', they both said smiling, then giving Sirius a look that clearly said ' pay up'.

'Fine', Sirius grumbled before handing James his winnings.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all. **

"**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"**

'Typical', Ron muttered

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear. **

"**Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger. **

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon. **

"**An' here's Harry!" said the giant. **

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile. **

'He is nice once you get past the whole massive and hairy thing,' lily said

'Yeah, I know, he's just a bit intimidating at first', harry replied smiling.

'Yeah, I remember the first time we met him, Wormtail was terrified', James said, laughing with the other marauders at the memory of that first meeting. Harry's eyes flashed at the mention of the rat that had sold his parents out and landed Sirius 12 years in prison. So far the group had managed to avoid that topic coming up, but Harry knew that it couldn't be avoided forever.

'Hey, Harry, you know Peter right, I mean you know the rest of us so you must know him', Remus said once he had recovered from laughing.

'Yeah, I know him, not very well though', Harry replied, trying to keep the anger and resentment that was threatening to over whelm him out of his voice.

'How come you don't know him very well? Actually, come to think of it, how _do_ you know me and Remus, I mean we aren't even in your life', Sirius said, sounding slightly depressed

Harry paused for a moment and considered his options, giving the others a quick glance as he did so, ' ...Well, Wormtail drifted away from you guys after school, but you all come into my life a bit later on', Harry said hesitantly.

'So how come you didn't know us before, why weren't you living with me or Remus?' Sirius asked earnestly, his eyes silently pleading with Harry.

'I understand myself not being able to look after you...as much as I would have liked, my ... condition would make that a bit difficult, what about Sirius though, he is your godfather after all', Remus said nervously.

'Some things happened... circumstances changed... that's all i can tell you, it'll be better explained when you read it in the books', Harry replied, dreading how they all would react when they found out the truth.

ow come

"**Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes." Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. **

'Hagrid was the first one the first one to tell me that', Harry said smiling

'And I'm guessing a lot of other people have told you that since', Remus said smiling as well.

'Yeah, practically every person I met that knew you both tell me that, It gets a bit tiring after a while'

'You don't like having my eyes?' Lily questioned.

'And you don't like looking like me?' James asked sounding hurt

'Who would want to look like you Prongs?' Sirius couldn't resist saying

'Oi! Everyone wants to look like me'

'No James, everyone wants to look like me'

'Enough', Remus said, before Sirius and James argument could break out, some of those lasted almost an hour.

Harry was smiling at the marauders antics, this was how he pictured them, Remus the piece maker to James and Sirius as well as the brainy one, James almost the leader in a group where everyone was equal, but also a brother to them all, having a touch of both Remus and Sirius's personalities and Sirius, the joker, always having a comment for everything, but unwaveringly loyal, as they all where to each other.

'I love looking like you dad, and having your eyes mum, it was just a bit annoying hearing it from everyone I met', Harry said which made Lily and James both smile before motioning for Hermione to continue.

"**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!" **

"**Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room. **

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on. **

'I hope Hagrid does step on him', Sirius muttered.

"**Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." **

'That was actually the first time anyone had wished me a happy birthday, the Dursley's usually just ignored it', Harry said while everyone looked sad.

'I wouldn't eat that cake if I was you though Harry, I mean it is Hagrid', Sirius said, trying to lighten the mood.

'Why wouldn't he eat it', Lily asked, having never tried Hagrid's cooking.

'Well, most things he makes cause you bodily harm so after the first few times you just learn to refuse', Sirius replied smiling.

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with **_**Happy Birthday Harry **_**written on it in green icing. **

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

'Tut, tut. Manners Harry', Ginny said, trying to be serious.

'Hey, If Hagrid suddenly turned up at your door and gave you a birthday cake, what would you do?' Harry asked indignantly.

**The giant chuckled. **

"**True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." **

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. **

"**What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind." **

'Yeah, neither would I' Sirius muttered before Lily slapped him in the back of the head.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath. **

'I never really understood how Hagrid's wand could still do magic, i mean they snapped it when he was expelled' Ginny said

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. **

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley." **

'I've gotta actually agree with Dursley there Harry', James said, giving the book a wary look.

'Nah, it was actually ok, i mean all he had to do was cook them, he didn't actually make them', harry shrugged

'oh, I guess they'd be ok then.'

**The giant chuckled darkly. **

"**Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

'Always speaks his mind doesn't he'

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." **

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. **

"**Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course. **

'Yeah, I know_ all_ about it', Harry muttered sarcastically.

"**Er — no," said Harry. **

**Hagrid looked shocked. **

"**Sorry," Harry said quickly. **

"_**Sorry**_**?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?" **

"**All what?" asked Harry.**

'Thats gonna make him explode', Sirius laughed, thinking there was finally someone who could put Dursley in his place.

"**ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. ** "**Now wait jus' one second!" **

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall. **

'Usually I would call them cowards, but I don't think anyone could stand up to Hagrid when he's this mad', Sirius said

'Well you did once Pads, remember, he almost threw you out of his hut', Remus replied

'Oh yeah. He was terrifying, almost as bad as Dumbledore when he's mad. I learnt my lesson though, I doubt Dursley will'

"**Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad. **

"**I know **_**some **_**things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." **

'That's not really what he's talking about Harry', Hermione laughed along with everyone else as Harry pouted, 'you where a lot more innocent back then though weren't you, you trusted everyone', she whispered to him.

'Yeah, well I hadn't really been given a reason to not trust people had I?' Harry muttered back.

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About **_**our **_**world, I mean. **_**Your **_**world. **_**My **_**world. **_**Yer parents' world**_**." **

"**What world?" **

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode. **

"**DURSLEY!" he boomed. **

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're **_**famous**_**. You're **_**famous**_**."**

Sudden inspiration came to Harry, to ask a question that he'd always wondered about but was afraid to ask as it might sound arrogant, 'Just how famous was I?' He asked Hermione, Ron and Ginny

'You were huge', Ron replied, 'you where like a celebrity, everyone knew who you where and what you did, even if they where muggle born'

'Yeah, It was kind of weird though according to mum, I mean you where there one minute, gone the next, and nobody had any idea where you had gone, there was the occasional sighting but that's it.', Ginny added.

"**What? My — my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?" **

"**Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. **

"**Yeh don' know what yeh **_**are**_**?" he said finally. **

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. **

"**Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage. **

"**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?" **

"**Kept **_**what **_**from me?" said Harry eagerly. **

"**STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. **

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror. **

"**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry — yer a wizard." **

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. **

"**I'm a **_**what**_**?" gasped Harry. **

"**A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter." **

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to **_**Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. **_**He pulled out the letter and read: **

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY **_

_**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE **_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) **_

_**Dear Mr. Potter, **_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. **_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. **_

_**Yours sincerely, **_

_**Minerva McGonagall, **_

_**Deputy Headmistress **_

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

'That's really the first thing you could think of to ask, I mean you get told you're going to a school for witches and wizards and you ask about owls?', Sirius laughed

'It was the first thing I thought of' Harry shrugged.

"**Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl**

'He had an owl in his pocket?' Hermione said surprised

'Of course. Where else is he going to keep it', Harry said seriously before laughing at Hermione's incredulous look, 'Keep reading', he said quickly, he didn't want Hermione to start a new campaign about the mistreatment of owls now that SPEW was beginning to gain momentum.

— **a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down: **

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore, **_

_**Given Harry his letter. **_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. **_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well. **_

_**Hagrid **_

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. **

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly. **

"**Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight. **

"**He's not going," he said. **

**Hagrid grunted. **

"**I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said. **

"**A what?" said Harry, interested. **

"**A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on." **

"**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!" **

"**You **_**knew**_**?" said Harry. "You **_**knew **_**I'm a — a wizard?" **

"**Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "**_**Knew**_**! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? **

'Leave Lily alone you bi...', Sirius yelled, but stopped as Hermione shot him a look as dangerous as Lily's who was being hugged tightly by James. At first he hadn't been too fond of Lily, but once he had gotten to know her, he loved her like a little sister as Remus also did. Over the last few months; they had become almost as protective of her as James was. Almost being the key word.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that **_**school **_**— and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. **

'Isn't that underage magic though?' Remus asked

'It was an accident when I got home at the end of 4th year. Petunia was being horrible, and the next thing I knew her cup had been turned into a rat. It was actually a bit funny.

'Prongs. I officially_ love _your girlfriend' Sirius said as he laughed

**I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak! **

'That was un called for' James growled, as both Remus and Sirius nodded in agreement, their anger coming through again at the Dursley's

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!" **

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years. **

"**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —**_**abnormal **_— **and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!" **

'So thats how you found out what happened, Petunia venting about how much she loathed me' lily said astonished.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" **

"**CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!" **

"**But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently. **

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious. **

"**I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." **

'Imagine if you did go off to Hogwarts, not knowing anything', Ginny said

'Well there still was a lot that I didn't know', harry muttered in her ear.

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. **

"**Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…" **

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —" **

"**Who?" **

"**Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does." **

"**Why not?" **

"**Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…" **

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out. **

"**Could you write it down?" Harry suggested. **

"**Nah — can't spell it. All right —**_**Voldemort**_**. " **

'You actually got Hagrid to say it, we never could', Sirius said

'You tried?' Ron asked

'Well yeah, It's only a name isn't it'

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. **

"**Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. **

'Exactly. They'd never join the Death Eaters, none of us would', Sirius said heatedly as Lily, Remus and James all nodded in agreement.

'It's going to kill them when they find out about Peter', Hermione whispered to the people from the future.

'Kill Peter's more like it', Ron muttered darkly.

"**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —" **

Everyone in the room had gone pale; James was hugging Lily tightly, muttering reassuringly to her, as a tear slipped down her face. Sirius had a mixture of complete sadness and anger at Voldemort of his face, struggling to hold back tears for his brother and best friend and his girlfriend. Remus was staring fixedly at a spot on the wall opposite, hands shaking at the thought of two of his best friends dying in just a few short years.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn. **

"**Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa… **

"**You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. **

'How...' Lily began to ask but Harry quickly stopped her with a shake of his head.

**Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. **

**No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts **

'He murdered all those people. Isn't there a Bones in the year bellow us', Lily asked

'Yeah, there is', Remus nodded solemnly.

'The Prewetts, there your uncles aren't they?' Sirius asked

'What? Yeah they are, how did you know that?' Ron asked surprised.

'Molly and Arthur where together at school, inseparable, I'm assuming they married after they left school, and there aren't too many other Weasleys', Sirius said

'Wow Sirius that was actually smart', James teased

'It's been known to happen occasionally'

— **an' you was only a baby, an' you lived." **

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh. **

Everyone in the room shivered at the thought of Voldemort laughing as he killed Lily.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly. **

"**Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…." **

"**Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched. **

"**Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you,**

**probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured**

'If he hits you I swear to god...' Lily said, anger etched on his face, along with everyone else.

— **and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion **

Sirius growled at this, his dog animagus beginning to show, through her anger, Lily gave Sirius a confused look as James and Remus both gave him a warning look.

— **asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -" **

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. **

**Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…" **

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent. **

"**That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor. **

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. **

"**But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

'Always call that bastard by his name Harry, your just giving him what he wants if you're scared of it', James said

'I have no problem saying Voldemort, I just thought I better not seeing as how Hagrid hated it so much'

"**Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go? **

"**Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. **

The people from the future shuddered at this, thinking of just what happened to him and to Harry.

**Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. **

"**Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — **_**I **_**dunno what it was, no one does **— **but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. **

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football? **

"**Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard." **

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. **

"**Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?" **

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back… and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him? **

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him. **

"**See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

'That's an understatement', Ginny said.

'Where you a fan of his Ginny?' Sirius asked teasingly causing Ginny to blush and Sirius to laugh

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight. **

"**Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —" **

"**If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. **

**He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—" **

"**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon. **

'He _really _shouldn't have said that' James said laughing

'This is going to be good' Sirius said as Remus and him joined in James's laughter.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. **

The room erupted into laughter at this.

'He...Pig...'Sirius gasped laughing uncontrollably.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. **

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard. **

"**Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do." **

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. **

"**Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job." **

"**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry. **

"**Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." **

"**Why were you expelled?" **

'Hagrid hates it when people ask him that', Remus said

"**It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." **

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry. **

"**You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."**

'Ewww', Lily said

'Thats the end of the chapter', Hermione said, handing the book to Lily.

_**A/N okey guys so just a quick thing Im looking for 2 stories about James and Lily at Hogwarts, Remus and Sirius are involved to. The first story is james and lily being penpals but not knowing its each other, i think lilys name is Elizabeth, but im not sure, there known to each other by their middle names. The second story, or it might be the same one, i don't know, James is seriously powerful, his parents are killed by Voldemort when he refuses to join him and says he's going to kill everyone close to him until he does, Lily is friends with him at this point and theres also a little girl that they have become friends with at school. Voldemort kidnaps them all and locks Sirius, Remus and the chick in a room when its a full moon. Thats all i can remember, but i really want to find it. Anyone that can help me, that would be awesome **____** Also I really want to add the word ranga into my story, so if anyone knows how please tell me, for those of you that don't know what it is, look on urban dictionary **___


	6. Diagon Alley

_**Disclaimer – Don't own anything**_

"**Diagon Alley,"** Lily read and smiled, looking at Harry.

'It's amazing going there for the first time isn't it' she said to Harry and Hermione.

'Spectacular'

'Amazing'

'Yeah, it's pretty cool' Ron said nonchalantly.

'Well it was different for me, Harry and Lily, we'd never seen magic before and we were suddenly surrounded by it, where as the rest of you had all grown up with it', Hermione said

'Point taken', Ron said

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight. **

_**It was a dream, **_**he told himself firmly. **_**I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard. **_

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise. **

_**And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door**_**, Harry thought, his heart sinking.**

'You really thought it was all just a dream?' James questioned sadly

'Well yeah, I never thought that anything this good could ever happen to me', Harry replied

'Mate, thats just sad, I mean I thought my childhood was crap', Sirius said with no hint of humour in his voice.

'Sirius, could you please reframe from swearing around my son', Lily said

'Right, sorry Lils'

**But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

**Tap. Tap. Tap. **

"**All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up." **

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak. **

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. **

**The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat. **

"**Don't do that." **

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat. **

"**Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl —" **

"**Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa. **

"**What?" **

"**He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." **

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing **_**but **_**pockets — bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags… finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins. **

'How long did it take you to find?' Remus chuckled

'A couple of minutes. There was about a million pockets', Harry said, remembering that day quite clearly. It was the first time in his life he had been filled with hope of a new life.

"**Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily. **

"**Knuts?" **

"**The little bronze ones." **

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window. **

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched. **

"**Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school." **

Ron snorted at this, ' So he was getting up anyway. Why didn't he just pay'

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

'I take it your thinking you don't have any money', James asked

'Well yeah, how was I supposed to know that I had a secrete bank vault underneath London filled with gold' Harry replied smiling

'Well actually we have two vaults'

'Wait what'

'Yeah, we have a vault for the Potter ... '

'Fortune I believe is the word you're looking for Prongs', Sirius said smiling, he knew for a fact that the Potters where one of the wealthiest pureblood families in the whole of Britain, second only to the Malfoy's and possibly his own family, though he would never see a dime of that.

'Well I was looking for a less conceited way of saying it but I guess so', James replied eyeing Lily nervously, he had yet to tell her just how well off he was, 'Anyway, we have a vault for that and then one for family heirlooms and all that kind of stuff'

'Don't forget your three houses, if you can call them that'

Everyone in the room was looking at James in shock who began blushing slightly

'So... just how much money do you have James', Lily asked warily, she knew that he came from a family with money, but she never thought that it would be so large.

'Well, like Pads said, we have three houses, one in Godrics Hollow, which is going to be mine when I leave school, the place I grew up in and a house in the south of France that was one of my uncles, the gold, and the family heirlooms are worth quite a lot too.

'Wow...that... wow' was all Lily could manage to stutter.

'Well, my family goes right back to the Peverell's, and there's a bunch of other once prominent pureblood families in there to, we have all of their 'fortunes' so....'

'Damn' was all anyone could say

'I'll have to tell you later Harry how you can get into that other vault', James finally said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen on the group.

"**Um — Hagrid?" **

"**Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots. **

"**I haven't got any money — and you heard Uncle Vernon last night… he won't pay for me to go and learn magic." **

"**Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?" **

"**But if their house was destroyed —" **

'I don't get that but see, Hagrid knows that you've got money in Gringotts', James said smiling again.

"**They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold — an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither." **

"**Wizards have **_**banks**_**?" **

"**Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins." **

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding. **

"_**Goblins**_**?" **

"**Yeah — so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. **

'Hear that Harry, mad to try and rob it', Ginny whispered teasingly to him.

'Well you always knew I was a bit crazy', He replied smiling.

**Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe — 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you — gettin' things from Gringotts — knows he can trust me, see." **

"**Got everythin'? Come on, then." Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm. **

"**How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat. **

"**Flew," said Hagrid. **

"_**Flew**_**?" **

"**Yeah — but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh." **

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying. **

'How would he fly?', Hermione asked

'My bike maybe', Sirius said uncertainly, Hagrid was the last one to have it in his possession 10 years ago.

"**Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter — er — speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?" **

"**Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land. **

"**Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked. **

"**Spells — enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. **

'You really would have to be either crazy or desperate to try and rob it with dragons guarding it wouldn't you', Sirius commented

'Or both', Ron muttered

**And then yeh gotta find yer way — Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat." **

'Maybe you could ride one of those dragons out', Sirius said, half joking, half serious. Remus rolled his eyes at his friend.

'That's impossible Padfoot. You can't just jump onto a dragons back and ride it out and into Diagon Alley' He scoffed.

'I bet you 4 gallons someone does it in these books'

'Why would someone do that'

'Donno, but by the looks of these books and how those guys keep muttering to each other all the time, I'm guessing some pretty crazy stuff happens. Riding a dragon might be one of them' Sirius said defiantly. 'But I'm sure its not any of them that does it' he added quickly at the horrified look on Lilys face.

'All right Sirius, if you want to give me your money, I could use it' Remus said, shaking hands with Sirius as the kids from the future tried their hardest not to laugh.

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the **_**Daily Prophet**_**. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life. **

"**Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page. **

"**There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself. **

"'**Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice." **

"**But what does a Ministry of Magic **_**do**_**?" **

"**Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

"**Why?" **

"_**Why? **_**Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone." **

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street. **

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?" **

'You'd think he'd try to be a little more subtle' Hermione muttered

'Hagrid's not really a subtle kinda guy', Ron laughed

"**Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are **_**dragons **_**at Gringotts?" **

"**Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon." **

"**You'd **_**like **_**one?" **

"**Wanted one ever since I was a kid — here we go." **

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent. **

"**Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. **

**Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket. **

"**Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need." **

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read: **

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY **_

_**UNIFORM **_

_**First-year students will require: **_

_**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black) **_

_**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear **_

'Does anyone actually where a hat?' Sirius asked, everyone shaking their heads in response

_**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) **_

_**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings) **_

_**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags **_

_**COURSE BOOKS **_

_**All students should have a copy of each of the following: **_

_**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)by Miranda Goshawk **_

_**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot **_

_**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling **_

_**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch **_

_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore **_

_**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger **_

_**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander **_

_**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble **_

_**OTHER EQUIPMENT **_

_**1 wand **_

_**1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) **_

_**1 set of glass or crystal phials **_

_**1 telescope set **_

_**1 brass scales **_

_**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad **_

_**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS **_

"**Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud. **

"**If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid. **

'Nobody ever likes telling me much do they', Harry commented

**Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow. **

"**I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops. **

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?**

**If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him. **

"**This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place." **

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it.**

'Is it invisible to muggles?' Ron asked Hermione

'Yes, my parents couldn't see it when we went to Diagon Ally'

'Nor could mine', Lily said

**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside. **

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?" **

"**Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle. **

"**Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this — can this be —?" **

'Queue the freak out', Sirius muttered causing everyone to laugh.

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent. **

"**Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter… what an honor." **

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. **

"**Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back." **

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming. **

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

'That must have been weird', Remus said sympathetically

'Yeah, I mean, 24 hours ago I'd never even heard of Voldemort, It was an odd experience', Harry said

"**Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last." **

"**So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud." **

"**Always wanted to shake your hand — I'm all of a flutter." **

"**Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle." **

"**I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop." **

"**He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again — Doris Crockford kept coming back for more. **

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching. **

"**Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts." **

Harry gripped the arm chair tightly at this, thinking of what would be occurring in just under a year's time.

"**P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you." **

"**What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?" **

"**D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. **

'So you got a defence teacher that's scared of his own subject', Remus shook his head, and the kids from the future repressed smiles.

'Yeah, well they only get better' Ron said

'Was that sarcastic or not?' Sirius asked confused but everyone refused to answer him.

"**N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought. **

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble. **

"**Must get on — lots ter buy. Come on, Harry." **

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds. **

**Hagrid grinned at Harry. **

"**Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh — mind you, he's usually tremblin'." **

"**Is he always that nervous?" **

"**Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience… They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag — never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject — now, where's me umbrella?" **

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can. **

"**Three up… two across…" he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry." **

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. **

**The brick he had touched quivered — it wriggled — in the middle, a small hole appeared — it grew wider and wider — a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight. **

"**Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley." **

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall. **

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons — All Sizes — Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them. **

"**Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first." **

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. **

**He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad…"**

'See, its so much more spectacular to us then to people who have grown up around magic', Lily said as Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement.

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium — Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever —" **

'Awesome...' Sirius and James both said in awed voices

'You've gotta get one harry!' James said excitedly

'You know the rules James, first years aren't allowed to have brooms', Lily scolded

'If I was alive i'd get it for him', James muttered, causing a pained look to cross everyones face

'Who said Harry could even fly', Remus asked, trying to restart the banter that usually occurred as Sirius still looked upset.

This snapped Sirius out of his depression as both him and James looked at Remus in shock.

'Never say that Moony!' James cried

'Well he might not be able to'

'No way, he defiantly can. Its one skill he would have definatly gotten off me not Lily. At least I hope he did'

'Hey, I'm a perfectly capable flier I'll have you know. I can even play quidditch!' Lily said defiantly

'What, you never told me that before' James said, staring at Lily as though he'd never seen her before.

'Well I didn't want to give you another reason to annoy me did I'

Ignoring this last comment, James continued excitedly, 'What position do you play?'

'Chaser'. James stared at Lily speechless, causing her to blush.

'So Harry, you can fly right, you like quidditch?' James said recovering after a few moments

'I'm not a bad flier, and I like quidditch. Not on the house team though', Harry replied

'Oh... ok', James replied sounding a bit disappointed that his son didn't have the same passion for the game that he does.

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon… **

"**Gringotts," said Hagrid. **

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was — **

"**Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them: **

_**Enter, stranger, but take heed **_

_**Of what awaits the sin of greed, **_

_**For those who take, but do not earn, **_

_**Must pay most dearly in their turn. **_

_**So if you seek beneath our floors **_

_**A treasure that was never yours, **_

_**Thief, you have been warned, beware **_

_**Of finding more than treasure there. **_

'Ain't that the truth', Ron muttered

"**Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter. **

"**Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe." **

"**You have his key, sir?" **

"**Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals. **

"**Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key. **

**The goblin looked at it closely. **

"**That seems to be in order." **

"**An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

**The goblin read the letter carefully. **

"**Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

Ron made a face at the mention of the goblin, thinking of the last time he had met him, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Remus's observant eye. He gave Ron an odd look, but before he could make any comment, Lily had begun reading again.

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall. **

"**What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked. **

"**Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that." **

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in — Hagrid with some difficulty — and were off. **

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. **

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering. **

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late **

— **they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor. **

"**I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

"**Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick." **

The guys in the room laughed at this while the girls all made faces.

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling. **

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts. **

'Told ya it was a fortune. And that doesn't even sound like all of it', Sirius said cheerfully

'Yeah, the rest must be in the other vault', James said

"**All yours," smiled Hagrid. **

**All Harry's — it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag. **

"**The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough.**

'Its actually a bit weird', Lily said, 'At least muggle money goes up by 5's or 10's or whatever. It's all even amounts.'

**Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

"**One speed only," said Griphook. **

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

Lily shook her head at her son, ' Your just like James, not scared of anything'

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole. **

"**Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away. **

"**If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook. **

"**How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked. **

"**About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin. **

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least **— **but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. **

'That...no...impossible', Remus muttered, looking at the people from the future for a clue.

'You've figured it out haven't you', Harry said somewhat disappointed, it had taken them months to figure out.

'I think so, is it...' Remus began to say, but Harry cut him off with a look that could rival Lily's. He waved Remus over and put a quick, and silent, muffilito on his parents and Sirius, none of whom looked happy about it.

'Go, quick', Harry said

'Is it the Philosophers Stone?' He asked

'Yeah, it is, don't tell the others though ok. I want to see if they can figure it out.'

Remus walked back over to his seat as Harry removed the charm

'Keep reading', Harry said quickly before anyone could comment.

**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask. **

"**Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid. **

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life — more money than even Dudley had ever had. **

"**Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous. **

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. **

"**Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here — another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

'You can make your first friend', Lily said happily, as it was where she had meet one of her closest friends before her 1st year.

'First friend, more like first enemy' Ginny muttered.

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length. **

"**Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?" **

"**Yes," said Harry. **

"**My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. **

**He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." **

'Actually I really hope you don't become friends with this boy. He sounds horrid', Lily said

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley. **

"**Have **_**you **_**got your own broom?" the boy went on. **

"**No," said Harry. **

"**Play Quidditch at all?" **

"**No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

"_**I **_**do — Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?" **

"**No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute. **

"**Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" **

'Threre's nothing wrong with Hufflepuffs, there kind hearted, loyal people', Lily said angrily

"**Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting. **

"**I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in. **

"**That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts." **

"**Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

'I agree with you Lil's. I really don't like this kid', James said angrily. It was a well known fact around Hogwarts that the Marauders where fiercely protective of their friends and extremely loyal those they counted as friends.

"**He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second. **

"**Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of **_**savage **_— **lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed." **

"**I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly. **

"_**Do **_**you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" **

"**They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy. **

The people from the past flinched at this. 'You couldn't have said it a bit nicer?' Sirius asked

'Sorry', Harry said

"**Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. **

"**But they were **_**our **_**kind, weren't they?" **

'Pureblood brat', Sirius growled

"**They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean." **

"**I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?" **

Sirius was positively seething now, and James looked just as angry, holding Lily tightly to him.

'You know, I think it should be the opposite, people like him shouldn't be let in', Sirius spat.

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool. **

"**Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy. **

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts). **

"**What's up?" said Hagrid. **

"**Nothing," Harry lied. **

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?" **

"**Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know — not knowin' about Quidditch!" **

"**Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's. **

"— **and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in —" **

"**Yer not **_**from **_**a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh **_**were **_— **he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles — look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!" **

"**So what **_**is **_**Quidditch?" **

"**It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like — like soccer in the Muggle world — everyone follows Quidditch — played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls — sorta hard ter explain the rules." **

'Actually its pretty simple', James said, calming down some what at the mention of quidditch.

"**And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?" **

"**School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but —" **

"**I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily. **

'Nah, you'll defiantly be a Gryffindor', Sirius said

"**Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

'I'm sure there are some', Remus said fairly.

'Yeah, but most of them are bad aren't they', Sirius said

"**Vol-, sorry —You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?" **

"**Years an' years ago," said Hagrid. **

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from **_**Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) **_**by Professor Vindictus Viridian. **

'And so it begins', Ron muttered smilling.

"**I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley." **

"**I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level." **

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop). **

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again. **

"**Just yer wand left — A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present." **

**Harry felt himself go red. **

"**You don't have to —" **

"**I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at**

— **an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'." **

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell. **

'She sounds beautiful', Lily said, Harry nodded, sure that if he spoke, they would guess something happens to her in the future.

"**Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now — only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand." **

**A magic wand… this was what Harry had been really looking forward to. **

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. **

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. **

**The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic. **

"**Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair. **

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. **

"**Hello," said Harry awkwardly. **

"**Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." **

'It's kinda creepy how he remembers all that', James said as everyone nodded in agreement.

'Hey mum, are you any good at charms?', Harry asked

'Yeah, it was second though to potions'

'And you where good at transfiguration', He asked, looking at his dad.

'Yeah, It was my best subject, actually the only one I beat Lily in', James said smiling at his now pouting girlfriend.

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. **

"**Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it — it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes. **

"**And that's where…" **

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger. **

"**I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…" **

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid. **

"**Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again… Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?" **

"**It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid. **

"**Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern. **

"**Er — yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly. **

"**But you don't **_**use **_**them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply. **

"**Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke. **

'Yeah, never uses them at all' Sirius said laughing

"**Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now — Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?" **

"**Er — well, I'm right-handed," said Harry. **

"**Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." **

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own.**

'I've never gotten why he does that', James said and Harry shrugged.

**Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes. **

"**That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave." **

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once. **

"**Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try —" **

**Harry tried — but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander. **

"**No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become. **

"**Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere — I wonder, now — yes, why not — unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." **

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. **

'There it is'

**He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. **

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…" **

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…" **

"**Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?" **

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare. **

"**I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."**

The room had fallen completely silent. After a few moments Harry spoke, 'Can someone please say something'

'I believe you just did', Sirius joked, though his heart didn't seem completely in it

'Sorry Harry, It's just a bit of a shock, thats all', Remus said motioning for Lily to continue.

'Hey, do you think it was the part of Voldemort's sole in me, recognising the wand', Harry muttered quietly to his friends as Lily began to read.

'Truthfully, I have no idea, It might just be a coincidence', Hermione muttered back.

**Harry swallowed. **

"**Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter… After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great." **

The room collectively shivered at that.

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop. **

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder. **

"**Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said. **

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow. **

"**You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid. **

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life — and yet — he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

"**Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. **

"**All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander… but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry — I mean, the night my parents died." **

'You have done a lot of spectacular things to live up to your name though', Ginny whispered to him.

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile. **

"**Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts — I did — still do, 'smatter of fact."**

'Hogwarts really is awesome', James said

'Yeah, especially if you've got people like us there in your time. Keeps everyone on their toes, and gives them a few laughs', Sirius said smiling as did the rest of the marauders.

The people from the future smiled sadly at this, thinking of Fred.

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope. **

"**Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September — King's Cross — it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me…. See yeh soon, Harry." **

'Wait, he didn't even tell you how to get onto the platform' Lily said indignantly.

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

'Thats the end of the chapter', Lily said, handing the book to James.


	7. The Journey From Platform 9 34

"**The Journey From Platform Nine and Three-Quarters,"** James read

Sirius was practically jumping in his seat in excitement, 'We finally get to start hearing about your time at Hogwarts', he said before narrowing his eyes at Harry, 'You better have pulled off some pranks while you're there or I'm officially disowning you as my godson'

'Sirius!' Lily reprimanded as Remus hit him over the back of the head.

Harry smiled mysteriously at his godfather and father who was also looking slightly anxious, 'I didn't so much pull pranks, but don't worry, I'm sure the things I did instead will make up for it'.

Sirius pouted at this but nodded.

**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him — in fact, they didn't speak to him at all. **

**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. **

'Well I guess if you've got a choice between being yelled at or being ignored, you'd go with the ignored, though it would get a bit lonely', Remus said.

'Well from my own experiences I would rather be ignored', Sirius muttered darkly.

**Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while. **

**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in **_**A History of Magic**_**. His school books were very interesting. **

'Harry!' Sirius shouted shocked, 'Not being a prankster is one thing, but reading in the summer holidays.... thats just plain shameful', he said, shaking his head sadly

'Remus reads and he's a marauder', Harry countered

'Yeah, but every group needs at least one nerd. Besides, he puts his reading to good use with new curses and stuff, thats actually the reason we became friends with him, right Prongs.'

'Well its nice to know you only keep me around for my reading', Remus replied drily

'Of course, did you think it was because of your charms and good looks, cause unfortunately, I'm the guy in the group with that, and there can only be one'

Harry interrupted before the banter could be taken any further. He got the impression that the marauders often had these kinds of arguments and that they could go on for quite some time,

'So how did you all become friends?', he asked

'We'll tell you later when the books finished. We should probably keep reading', James said

'Oh no you don't!', Lily said fiercely, ' When we finish this book, you're telling me the big marauder secrete that I seem to be the only one in the dark on, you can tell Harry some other time', She said sternly

'Yes honey', James said meekly as Sirius made a whipping noise.

**He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first. **

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room. **

The marauders began chuckling at that.

"**Er — Uncle Vernon?" **

**Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening. **

"**Er — I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to — to go to Hogwarts." **

**Uncle Vernon grunted again. **

"**Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" **

**Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes. **

"**Thank you." **

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. **

"**Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" **

'No, but they are illegal', Remus said matter of factly.

**Harry didn't say anything. **

"**Where is this school, anyway?" **

"**I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket. **

'You know, I actually don't know where the school is either, somewhere to the north I think', Sirius said

"**I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read. **

**His aunt and uncle stared. **

"**Platform what?" **

"**Nine and three-quarters." **

"**Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters." **

'This really isn't going to go well is it', Lily said fretting, she knew that her sister was too horrible and despised her to much to ever help Harry getting to Hogwarts.

'Don't worry mum, everything works itself out in the end, probably in the best way to', Harry told Lily reassuringly

"**It's on my ticket." **

"**Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother." **

"**Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly. **

'I wouldn't bother'

"**Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings." **

'Why? It's just showing everyone his true form', Sirius said as everyone laughed.

**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. **

**He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes — **

**he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. **

'Geez, excited much', Ginny teased

Harry shrugged, 'I wanted to get out and away from them'

**Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off. **

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. **

**Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face. **

"**Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine — platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?" **

'He is such a horrible man. I don't know what Petunia ever saw in him', Lily said angrily

'They seem to be two peas in a pod if you ask me', Sirius commented.

**He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all. **

"**Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. **

'Wait, they just left you there like that', Lily said, her cheeks flushing red with anger once again, 'If I ever get my hands on him, I'll turn him into a... a...'

'Walrus?' Sirius offered. There was silence for a moment until everyone burst into laughter, Lily somewhat reluctantly.

**Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone. He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. **

**The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. **

**In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl. **

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.**

'Would you really do that?' Hermione asked shocked, sometimes Harry had no common sense.

'mabey', Harry shrugged, 'But of all the things I've done, that wouldn't have rated to high on the stupidity scale would it', he said smiling

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"— **packed with Muggles, of course —" **

'Thank god', Lily murmured, she was beginning to get frightened that Harry would do something foolish to try to get to the train.

**Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. **

'Enter the Weasly's' Ron muttered.

**Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him — and they had an **_**owl**_**. **

**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying. **

"**Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother. **

"**Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go…"**

'That's cute, the little girl really wants to go with her brothers', Lily laughed, as did everyone else, besides Ginny who was trying to hide her pout.

"**You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first." **

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. **

'Ginny!?' Sirius said, turning to look at her, the name Ginny was fairly rare, combined with the flaming red Weasly hair, there was no other option.

'Yeah, it's me', Ginny replied defensively.

'Awsome', was all Sirius said, he was a strange person.

**Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished. **

"**Fred, you next," the plump woman said. **

"**I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you **_**tell **_**I'm George?"**

"**Sorry, George, dear." **

"**Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went.**

The marauders laughed at this, 'I think I'm going to really like these guys', James said through his laughter. The people from the future did their best to not show their sadness at the mention of Fred. They had privately agreed that Fred would be brought up a lot while reading through the series and that there was little point in being said at every mention of him, they should instead remember the good times they had with the twins.

**His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone — but how had he done it? Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. **

**There was nothing else for it. **

"**Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman. **

"**Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

**She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose. **

'Did you really have to describe me like that', Ron muttered

'It's not me, its the author. And you where pretty lanky looking', Harry replied.

"**Yes," said Harry. "The thing is — the thing is, I don't know how to —" **

"**How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded. **

"**Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron." **

"**Er — okay," said Harry. **

**He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. **

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble — leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run — the barrier was coming nearer and nearer — he wouldn't be able to stop — the cart was out of control — he was a foot away — he closed his eyes ready for the crash — It didn't come… he kept on running… he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said **_**Hogwarts' Express, eleven o'clock**_**. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words **_**Platform Nine and Three-Quarters **_**on it, He had done it. **

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. **

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again." **

The people from the past looked at each other and smiled, 'Neville', they said simultaneously

"**Oh, **_**Neville**_**," he heard the old woman sigh. **

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. **

"**Give us a look, Lee, go on." **

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. **

Ron shivered slightly at that. He may have over came many of his fears throughout the years, spiders though was not one of them.

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot. **

"**Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier. **

'They actually asked you if you wanted help?' Ron asked bewildered and a tad offended, 'they only helped me cause mum made them'

'Well they've always treated Harry better than everyone else, never pulled a prank on him have they?' Ginny said smiling.

'There pranksters?' Sirius and James both asked excitedly

'Yeah, our generation's marauders', Harry replied smiling at his father and god fathers joy.

'Awesome', they both said

'I bet they found our map' James said happily

'Maybe, but there was over 10 years between us leaving and the twins going, someone else could have found it.', Remus said reasonably

'No way, they defiantly would have found it'

'Three gallons?'

'Yeah alright', James said before suddenly frowning, 'Wait, you know about the map don't you Harry?'

'Yeah, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs have helped me out a bit over the years', he replied smiling, much to Lily's displeasure, though she was happy to see that harry did take some of James's traits.

'See Prongs, if Harry has the map then the twins can't have it', Remus said smiling somewhat smugly

'You never know Moony. I'm not paying up until it says in the books', James said defiantly.

"**Yes, please," Harry panted. **

"**Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" **

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment. **

"**Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes. **

"**What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar. **

"**Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you —?" **

"**He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry. **

"**What?" said Harry. **

"_**Harry Potter**_**." chorused the twins. **

"**Oh, him," said Harry. **

The room began laughing at that.

"**I mean, yes, I am." **

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. **

"**Fred? George? Are you there?" **

"**Coming, Mom." **

**With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train. **

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. **

'Geez Harry, spying on us', Ron teased, punching his best friend lightly.

**Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. **

"**Ron, you've got something on your nose." **

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. **

The Marauders all snorted in laughter at this, but a warning look from Lily and Hermione quickly shut them up.

"_**Mum**_— **geroff" He wriggled free. **

"**Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins. **

"**Shut up," said Ron. **

"**Where's Percy?" said their mother. **

"**He's coming now." **

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter **_**P **_**on it. **

'Eww. He's a prefect', Sirius said with a disgusted look on his face.

'You know your two best friends are a Prefect and Head Boy right', Ginny said.

'Yeah... these two...or at least James... are the good kind, they don't care that much about upholding the rules. There still Marauders at heart. This guy though just seems to be a bit of a prick. No offence Ron and Ginny,' Sirius replied as Remus scolded at him.

'None taken', Ginny said happily. Though Percy had come back to the family after the battle of Hogwarts, it was still going to take some time for her to forgive him for leaving in the first place.

"**Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —" **

"**Oh, are you a **_**prefect**_**, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea." **

"**Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once —" **

"**Or twice —" **

"**A minute —" **

"**All summer —" =**

'That sounds like something you two would say', Lily said smiling at James and Sirius while they laughed.

"**Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect. **

"**How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins. **

"**Because he's a **_**prefect**_**," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there." **

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. **

"**Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"**

'Hey, why haven't we thought of that?' Sirius said sounding offended.

'Don't know. We'll do it next week though, when everyone gets back. Maximum affect', James replied with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

'Definitely', Sirius said, a similar look in his eyes.

"**Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." **

"**Great idea though, thanks, Mom." **

"**It's **_**not funny**_**. And look after Ron." **

"**Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us." **

"**Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it. **

'The funny thing is, when she said for the twins to look out for you, I don't think she was expecting all the stuff that happened' Ginny muttered to Ron smirking.

"**Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" **

**Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking. **

"**You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?" **

"**Who?" **

"_**Harry Potter**_**!" **

**Harry heard the little girl's voice. **

"**Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, eh please…"**

'Ohhh, Ginny has a crush', Sirius said in a sing-song voice cuasing her to turn bright red.

'Unless you want to be walking crooked for the next month Sirius, I suggest you don't mention it like that again', Ginny said in a deadly voice which caused Sirius to shut up immediately.

"**You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?" **

"**Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there — like lightning." **

"**Poor **_**dear **_— **no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform." **

"**Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?" **

**Their mother suddenly became very stern. **

"**I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school." **

'I think that was one of the only times they actually listened to her', Ron said.

"**All right, keep your hair on." **

**A whistle sounded. **

"**Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry. **

"**Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." **

"**We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat." **

"_**George!**_"

"**Only joking, Mom." **

'Did they actually send it?' Sirius asked Ginny

'No. They did blow one up, they just thought it was better to not be on the receiving end of mums rathe', Ginny replied

'Thats a good call', James said, having more than enough experience with angry red heads in both his mother and girlfriend.

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved. **

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind. **

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in. **

"**Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full." **

'So you can actually make your first friend now', Lily said smiling at her son.

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose. **

"**Hey, Ron." **

**The twins were back. **

"**Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there." **

"**Right," mumbled Ron. **

'Again with the spider!' Ron muttered.

"**Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. **

**And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then." **

"**Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them. **

"**Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out. **

'That was tactful', Sirius snorted.

'Like you can talk', Remus said

**Harry nodded. **

"**Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got — you know…" **

**He pointed at Harry's forehead. **

**Harry pulled back his fringe to show the lightning scar. Ron stared. **

"**So that's where You-Know-Who —?"**

"**Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it." **

"**Nothing?" said Ron eagerly. **

"**Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else." **

"**Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again. **

"**Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him. **

'You seriously thought we where interesting?' Ron asked bewildered

'Well yeah... you came from the magical world, which I knew nothing about. I thought it was interesting', Harry replied

"**Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

Seeing the scowl on Lily's face, he quickly added, 'He didn't want to talk to us anymore, cause he was the only one that couldn't do magic in the family'.

"**So you must know loads of magic already." **

**The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about. **

"**I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?" **

"**Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers." **

"**Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. **

"**I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. **

'Wow, it would be weird growing up in a family that big. Hard to stand out from the crowd', James said, looking at Ron sympathetically.

**You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. **

'Good men the both of them', James said smiling fondly

'Are you quidditch captain dad?', Harry asked

'Course he is. Since 5th year', Sirius said proudly.

**Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. **

Ron cringed slightly at this, he had forgotten what he had said. Hermione took his hand discreetly and squeezed it reassuringly. He had done more than enough over the past seven years to prove himself.

**You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat." **

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.**

The marauders all looked at each other and said 'Wormtail' before bursting out laughing.

Harry's hand twitched slightly at the mention of the rat. If only he had found out sooner...

"**His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. **

'Pretty similar huh', Sirius muttered to Remus grinning

**Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead." **

**Ron's ears went pink. **

**He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. **

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up. **

'Thats sweet Harry', Lily said in a motherly voice which caused Harry to blush slightly

"… **and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —" **

**Ron gasped. **

"**What?" said Harry. **

"_**You said You-Know-Who's name!**_" **said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —" **

'You seriously have no idea how shocked I was to hear Harry say Voldemort', Ron said

"**I'm not trying to be **_**brave **_**or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn… I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class." **

'Even purebloods come to Hogwarts not knowing much, except about how our world works, not about spells and stuff though', James said

"**You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough." **

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. **

**Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?" **

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor. **

**He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry**

'What are mars bars?' Sirius asked, excited at the prospect of food

'There a kind of chocolate with caramel and nougat. They taste delicious', Lily answered

'Yum. We should get some from a muggle shop one day Prongs'

'Defiantly'

— **but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. **

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat. **

"**Hungry, are you?" **

"**Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. **

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef…" **

"**Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —" **

"**You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us." **

"**Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten). **

'Geez, your easily won over aren't you', Remus said laughing

'Me and Prongs came friends kinda like that to', Sirius said, smiling fondly at the memory.

"**What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.**

"**They're not **_**really **_**frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him. **

"**No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa." **

"**What?" **

"**Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." **

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore. **

"**So **_**this **_**is Dumbledore!" said Harry. **

"**Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —" **

**Harry turned over his card and read: **

_**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE **_

_**CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS **_

_**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel.**_

'You read it on your first day, yet it still took us months to figure out', Hermione muttered to Harry who shrugged

_**Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling. **_

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared. **

"**He's gone!" **

"**Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. **

"**He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting." **

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. "Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos." **

"**Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "**_**Weird!" **_

**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. **

"**You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they **_**mean **_**every flavor — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavored one once." **

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. **

"**Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts." **

'You remember that time we found a bunch of snot flavoured ones and snuck them into Remus's lunch', Sirius said smiling at James.

'Yeah, that was hilarious'

Remus gave him two best friends reproving looks and muttered something darkly under his breath

**Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. **

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. **

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful. **

"**Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" **

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" **

"**He'll turn up," said Harry. **

'You're so polite Harry. You obviously didn't get that from the Dursley's _or _your father', Lily said

James opened his mouth to argue, before quickly closing it, she did have a good point.

"**Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" **

**He left. **

"**Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." **

**The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap. **

"**He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…" **

**He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. **

"**Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —" **

'Wow. But don't wands work better for the people they choose', Sirius asked

'Yeah, they do', Harry replied

**He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. **

"**Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.**

Everyone from the past turned slightly to face Hermione.

'Is that you?', James asked, the description sounding familiar.

Hermione keep her face expressionless, 'Keep reading James', she said

"**We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. **

"**Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." **

**She sat down. Ron looked taken aback. **

'Bossy', Sirius muttered.

"**Er — all right." **

**He cleared his throat. **

"**Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

The marauders all laughed at this.

'I take it the twins gave you that spell', James questioned

'Yeah, I don't know why I believed them for a second', Ron replied smiling, it was a pretty stupid sounding spell.

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. **

"**Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? **

**I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart,**

'Merlin the girl can talk', James said, out of breath after trying to read the sentence in one go.

'More to the point, why would you memorise all of your books. Thats crazy', Sirius said, shaking his head.

**of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" **

**She said all this very fast. **

'So it is you', Sirius stated

'Yes it is', Hermione replied stiffly.

Sirius stared at her for a moment, as though sizing her up before motioning for James to read

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either. **

"**I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered. **

"**Harry Potter," said Harry. **

"**Are you really?" said Hermione. **

'You know you're famous when even the muggle borns have heard of you', Lily said

"**I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in **_**Modern Magical History **_**and **_**The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts **_**and **_**Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century**_**." **

"**Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed. **

"**Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; **

'It defiantly is', James and Sirius both said proudly.

**I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." **

**And she left, taking the toadless boy with her. **

"**Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. **

'What did you say', Hermione said in a deadly voice.

'I...I'm sorry...It was before I knew you', Ron replied meekly

Hermione gave him a reproachful look before crossing her arms and moving as far away from Ron as the couch would allow.

'These next few chapters aren't gonna be too good for me are they', Ron whispered fearfully in Harry's ear.

**He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud." **

"**What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry. **

"**Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw **_**would **_**be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." **

"**That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?" **

"**Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed. **

"**You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. **

"**So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" **

**Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school. **

"**Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. **

'Charlie sounds so awesome', Sirius said admiringly.

'He's pretty cool', Ginny said smiling, she'd always admired both her eldest brothers.

"**Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the **_**Daily Prophet**_**, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault." **

'What!', All the people from the past yelled together.

'Who the hell would be stupid enough to try and do that', Sirius asked shocked

**Harry stared. **

"**Really? What happened to them?" **

"**Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. **

'Sirius, I think the better question would be who would be _powerful_ enough to try to rob Gringotts _and_ get away with it', Remus said stunned.

**My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it." **

'So he's been gone 10 years and people are still scared', Remus said

'Well thats what he wanted isn't it, for people to live in fear of the mere mention of him', Sirius said darkly.

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying. **

"**What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked. **

"**Er — I don't know any." Harry confessed.**

James looked as though he was about to say something about his son not loving quidditch as much as he did, but thought better of it and continued reading.

"**What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world —" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time. **

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. **

**He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley. **

'I guess he might show you a bit more respect now that he knows who you are', Remus said which Ron coughed loudly at in an attempt to hide his snort of disbelief.

"**Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" **

"**Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards. **

"**Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." **

'Malfoy's and Potters hate each other on pure principle', James said angrily

'Isn't that a bit unfair', Lily said, though she did agree, she detested this boy

'Not really', James replied, 'It's kind of like the Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry. It's just always been there'

'Wow, thats fitting', Ginny muttered to Harry.

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him. **

"**Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." **

**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." **

'Arrogant little tool', Sirius muttered. This boy reminded him strongly of his pure blood manior 'family'.

**He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it. **

"**I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly. **

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. **

"**I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. **

'Did he just threaten you', James said in a deadly voice. He was usually a fairly placid guy, but one thing he couldn't stand was people having ago at his family or friends.

**They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you." **

**Both Harry and Ron stood up. **

"**Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

'Punch him', Sirius said, with Lily too furious to reprimand him for it.

"**Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered. **

"**Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron. **

"**But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." **

**Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell. **

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle**

'I love your rat Ron', Sirius said cheering.

'You won't soon enough', He muttered darkly, only loud enough for Harry and Hermione to hear.

— **Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in. **

"**What **_**has **_**been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail. **

"**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep." **

**And so he had. **

'Defiantly wormy', James said laughing again

"**You've met Malfoy before?" **

**Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. **

"**I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?" **

"**You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"**Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?" **

"**All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. **

'Sorry for being jerks', Ron said, moving tentatively back towards Hermione

'It's alright', She said sighing, 'I did want to become friends with you two, I guess, it's just not really one of my strong points'

'Everything worked itself out eventually. I mean it only took a fight with a troll. No big deal'

"**And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

They've known each other for like five minutes and there already fighting', Ginny whispered to Harry laughing.

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. **

**He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. **

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." **

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. **

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" **

**Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. **

"**C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" **

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. **

"**Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." **

**There was a loud "Oooooh!" **

'The castle is very beautiful', Lily commented to a murmur of agreement.

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. **

"**No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. **

"**Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!" **

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. **

"**Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. **

"**Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. **

"**Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. **

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. **

"**Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" **

**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

'Thats the end', James said happily passing the book to Harry

'Good, now we can finally see what house they get put in', Sirius said happily

Harry felt his stomach churn uneasily at this. He knew that everyone would be happy with the end result, but he was sure Sirius in particular wouldn't be happy about him almost being placed in Slytherin.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N Sorry I haven't updated in a while people, who knew school could be so hectic **____** and by the way (*) means an author's note**_

Harry looked at the book nervously before beginning to read.

"**The Sorting Hat,**" He Read

**The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross. **

"So very true", Sirius said smiling.

"You cross her all the time!" Lily said incredulously

Sirius shrugged, he always suspected McGonagall secretly liked them.

"**The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid. **

"**Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." **

**She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. **

**They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously. **

"God, I hope we didn't act like that when we were in first year", Sirius said

"No, I remember, you and James where to amped up to be nervous", Remus replied

"**Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. **

"More honest words she's never said", James said grinning at Sirius and Remus.

**You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. **

"**The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards.**

"Ok, that's a lie, I don't think Slytherin has produced too many good witches or wizards", Sirius commented.

**While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. **

Lily looked pointedly at James and Sirius at this. "I hope you had more sense than your father when it comes to breaking the rules" She said to Harry who adverted his gaze and continued reading, thinking of all the house points he had lost over the years.

**At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. **

"**The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." **

**Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. **

**Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair. **

James scoffed at this. "I wouldn't bother son, the Potter hair will never lie flat"

"Yeah, I learnt that" Harry replied smiling.

"**I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." **

**She left the chamber. Harry swallowed. **

"**How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron. **

"**Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." **

"You really should have learnt after a while that there just going to lie to you", Lily said

"Nah, if there any good at what they do, they'll tell the truth every so often to keep you on your toes", Sirius said, thinking of all the things the marauders had done over the years.

**Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet —what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. **

**He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. **

Sirius opened his mouth to comment, put a glare from Hermione caused him to shut it.

**Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue. **.

**He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.**

"Such a positive person", Sirius replied dryly

**Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air — several people behind him screamed. **

"**What the —?" **

**He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. **

**What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —" **

"**My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?" **

**A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. **

**Nobody answered. **

"**New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?" **

**A few people nodded mutely. **

"**Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know." **

"**Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." **

**Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall. **

"**Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me." **

**Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. **

**Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. **

"Its spectacular isn't it" Lily said

**It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in **_**Hogwarts, A History**_**." **

**It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. **

**Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house. **

_**Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it**_**, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing **

"What?" The Marauders' and Ron both said

"Muggle thing", Hermione said

— **noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing: **

"_**Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**_

"You're not singing" Sirius pouted

"And I'm not going to" harry replied

_**But don't judge on what you see, **_

_**I'll eat myself if you can find **_

_**A smarter hat than me. **_

_**You can keep your bowlers black, **_

_**Your top hats sleek and tall, **_

_**For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat **_

_**And I can cap them all. **_

_**There's nothing hidden in your head **_

_**The Sorting Hat can't see, **_

_**So try me on and I will tell you **_

_**Where you ought to be. **_

_**You might belong in Gryffindor, **_

_**Where dwell the brave at heart, **_

_**Their daring, nerve, and chivalry **_

_**Set Gryffindors apart; **_

_**You might belong in Hufflepuff, **_

_**Where they are just and loyal, **_

_**Those patient Hufflepuffs are true **_

_**And unafraid of toil; **_

_**Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, **_

_**if you've a ready mind, **_

_**Where those of wit and learning, **_

_**Will always find their kind; **_

_**Or perhaps in Slytherin **_

_**You'll make your real friends, **_

_**Those cunning folk use any means **_

_**To achieve their ends. **_

_**So put me on! Don't be afraid! **_

_**And don't get in a flap! **_

_**You're in safe hands (though I have none) **_

_**For I'm a Thinking Cap!" **_

"More up lifting then any of the ones we ever got", James commented

"Yeah well their not in the middle of a war now are they", Remus said sadly, thinking of what it had cost them for the war to end.

**The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. **

"**So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll." **

Harry tried to cover a snort of laughter at that as the marauders and Lily chuckled

"Maybe you should have stuck with divination Ron, you seem to predict a lot of things that happen", Ginny muttered

**Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. **

**The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. **

**If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him. **

**Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. **

"**When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!" **

**A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause — **

"**HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat. **

**The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her. **

"**Bones, Susan!" **

"**HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah. **

"**Boot, Terry!" **

"**RAVENCLAW!" **

**The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them. **

"**Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" **

**became the first new Gryffindor, **

"Go Gryffindor" Sirius shouted as James whooped.

**and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling. **

"**Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. **

**He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him. **

"**Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" **

"**HUFFLEPUFF!" **

**Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," **

**the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.**

"**Granger, Hermione!" **

**Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.**

"**GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned. **

"Yes!" James and Sirius yelled while Lily and Remus opted for a more polite "Congratulations"

**A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? **

**What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train? **

**When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. **

"Wait... Longbottom...Is that" Lily said, smiling

"Frank and Alice's kid, yeah", Harry said smiling at his mum

"Good on Frank", Sirius said

"Yeah, but you could always tell they'd be together forever, they did start dating in 4th year", Lily said thinking of one of her closest friends and the impending marriage.

**The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. **

**When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag." **

**Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" **

"Typical" Sirius muttered darkly.

"Sirius, as much as I hate this boy you shouldn't say things like that" Lily reprimanded

"Why not!"

"Because, it's probably what everyone was thinking about you until you got put into Gryffindor. Just another Black, straight to Slytherin and dark magic."

"Lily!" James said shocked, this was the first time she had ever brought up the subject of Sirius being a Black.  
"It's alright James; you know it's true any way. I'm just glad i proved everyone wrong" Sirius replied, looking at Lily in wonder, he was beginning to see what had attracted James to Lily, though he would never pine after her for almost 7 years as James had, or even pine after her at all.

**Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. **

**There weren't many people left now. "Moon"…, "Nott"… , "Parkinson"… , then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"… , then "Perks, Sally-Anne"… , and then, at last — **

"**Potter, Harry!" **

**As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall. **

"_**Potter**_**, did she say?" **

"_**The **_**Harry Potter?" **

"That kind of thing is going to go on for a while isn't it" Remus said

**The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited. **

"**Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. **

"What's so difficult, he's obviously a Gryffindor", James said, slightly offended.

**Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?"**

"Gryffindor you stupid hat!" Sirius shouted

**Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, **_**Not Slytherin, not Slytherin**_**. **

"**Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no? **

**Well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!" **

"See I told you hat!" Sirius shouted smiling, happy that his godson was not placed in Slytherin.

"You would have really hated it if I was put in Slytherin wouldn't you?" Harry questioned him.

"Well it wouldn't have been anything against you, It's just more of a personal vendetta I have against them, you know with my family and all" Sirius replied, "It's not like I would have hated you, your still my godson no matter what"

Harry smiled at this, It was the reassurance he needed.

**Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin; he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" **

"I seriously love these guys", Sirius said smiling _**(*)**_

**Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water. **

**He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Harry spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban. **

**And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. **

The marauders again cheered.

"**Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now.**

**Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" **

"Yeah" James cheered; it would have been pretty horrible if Harry's only friend so far was placed in a different house.

"Now thats something I can say typical too, I don't think there's been a Weasley yet that hasn't been put in Gryffindor. Congrats", Sirius said, smiling at Ron

"Fair enough" Lily said as she and Remus also congratulated Ron.

**Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him. **

"**Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry **

**as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. **

**Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago. **

**Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. **

"**Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! **

"**Thank you!" **

**He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not. **

"**Is he — a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly. **

"Defiantly" James and Sirius said in sync.

"**Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?" **

**Harry's mouth fell open. **

**The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs. **

"It is a bit disconcerting the first time that happens isn't it", Lily said smiling at her son.

**The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if It made him sick. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious. **

"**That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak. **

"**Can't you —?" **

"**I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. **

**I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower." **

"**I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you — you're Nearly Headless Nick!" **

"I wouldn't call him that, he gets a bit touchy about it" Lily said

"**I would **_**prefer **_**you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy —" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted. **

"_**Nearly **_**Headless? How can you be **_**nearly **_**headless?" **

"He shouldn't have done that, its disgusting"

**Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted. **

"**Like **_**this**_**," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, **

**Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So — new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost." **

**Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. **

**He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements. **

"**How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest. **

"**I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately. **

"I have always wondered about that", Lily said looking thoughtful

"Well at least you have more sense than Sirius, he asked him", Remus said, shaking his head at his friend, "He looked like he was going to murder Sirius"

"It was quite entertaining really", James said, chuckling at the memory of the terrified first year Sirius.

"You guys...." Lily said exasperated at the things they did.

**When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding… **

**As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families. **

"**I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."**

"I think nasty shock would be a bit of an understatement", James said laughing along with Sirius

"At least he took it well", Remus said, also chuckling

**The others laughed. **

"**What about you, Neville?" said Ron. **

"**Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville**

"Wait what!" Lily half shouted, she hoped beyond all hope that it didn't mean what she thought it meant.

"I guess that means we weren't the only ones not to make it through the war", James said solemnly, Frank was a good friend of the marauders

Harry looked sadly at his parents, unable to tell them what had happened to their friends. Lily turned to James and began crying into his chest, while Harry looked hopelessly at his friends, unsure as what to do, he cleared his throat slightly before starting.

"They didn't die...it was worse than that" He finally managed.

Lily raised her head and stared at Harry.

"What happened to them?" She asked in a shaky voice

"I didn't find out for a while but they...they were tortured into insanity shortly after Voldemort disappeared"

"Oh my god", Lily cried, hugging James tighter than before while the marauders all sat in a shocked silence.

After 5 minutes Sirius finally spoke, well disguised anger filling his eyes, "Who did it"

"I...umm..." Harry stalled, fearing Sirius's reaction

"Harry", He said forcefully

"Bellatrix"

All eyes turned to Sirius who immediately went rigid.

"Excuse me", Sirius said quietly, before standing and walking to a room that had materialised behind everyone.

"Lets take a break while Sirius calms down", Remus suggested as he and the people from the future stood, leaving James to comfort his girlfriend and sounds of many objects breaking echoed from the room Sirius was in.

Around 10 minutes passed before James and Lily joined the others, and it was another five before Sirius appeared, seemingly working out his anger in the room before reappearing.

"You right Pad's", James asked his friend cautiously, he had not seen Sirius so angry in long time.

"I'm fine" He replied, giving the room a week smile, "Lets keep reading"

**"but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. **

**My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me — he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned — but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced — all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. **

**And you should have seen their faces when I got in here — they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad." **

**On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons **

**("I **_**do **_**hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult —"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing — "). **

"You're really excited aren't you", James teased lightly, trying to brighten the atmosphere a bit.

**Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. **

"No!" Sirius and James screamed in unison, any remanet of a good mood forgotten.

"Please tell us thats not who we think it is", James asked with a pained look on his face, unconsciously pulling Lily closer to him, Harry averted his father and godfathers gaze and continued to read.

**It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes — and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead. **

"What happened?" Lily asked concerned

"**Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head. **

"**What is it?" asked Percy. **

"**N-nothing." **

**The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look — a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all. **

"This is not good", Sirius muttered, he thought that Hogwarts would be Harry's escape, just like it was for him, but that was seeming like a distant memory now.

"**Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy. **

"**Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. **

"Oh god", James moaned while Sirius mumbled "Crap"

"Please don't", Lily said, looking pleadingly at them, "He might have changed, he could be nice to Harry..." she said, as though trying to convince herself as well as them.

"Lily, I'm sorry, but I'm telling you now, he will hate Harry. In Snape's mind it will be just like having me and Sirius back at school, he won't even give him a chance", James replied giving Harry an apologetic look.

"Sorry Lily, but I'm going to have to agree with them on this one, being like a clone of James and having your eyes.... You know it will be an immediate hatred" Remus said

**He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to — everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape." **

"That he does", Sirius muttered darkly, he had a bad feeling about Snape being a teacher there.

**Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again. **

**At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent. **

"**Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. **

**I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. **

"**First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." **

**Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.**

"Weird, he did the same thing to us", Sirius said, feigning innocence

"Yeah, I wonder why that would be" Lily replied drily

"**I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. **

"**Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. **

"**And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." **

"Thats weird, since when is a corridor out of bounds", Lily said curiously

Remus quickly looked at Harry, silently asking him if it had anything to do with the stone. Harry in turn gave a small nod which went unnoticed by the others.

**Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did. **

"**He's not serious?" **

"Harry, I'm Sirius, not him. God, I don't look that old do I", Sirius joked while James and Remus both groaned at the overused pun.

**he muttered to Percy. **

"**Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere — the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that.**

"There not all dangerous", James said indignantly.

"Whatever you reckon", Ron muttered

**I do think he might have told us prefects, at least." **

"**And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. **

**Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. **

"**Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" **

**And the school bellowed: **

"_**Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, **_

_**Teach us something please, **_

_**Whether we be old and bald **_

_**Or young with scabby knees, **_

_**Our heads could do with filling **_

_**With some interesting stuff, **_

_**For now they're bare and full of air, **_

_**Dead flies and bits of fluff, **_

_**So teach us things worth knowing, **_

_**Bring back what we've forgot, **_

_**just do your best, we'll do the rest, **_

_**And learn until our brains all rot." **_

**Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest. **

"**Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" **

**The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. **

**They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt. **

**A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him. **

"Peeves", the marauders said in unison smiling

"**Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves — show yourself." **

**A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered. **

"**Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"**

"Thats just sad, having to pull the Baron card so soon. I have no respect for him anymore", Sirius said.

"You had no respect for him as soon as you heard he was a prefect", Remus reminded him

"Well than I have even less than none now"

**There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks. **

"**Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!" **

**He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked. **

"**Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy. **

**Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed. **

"**You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects.**

"Who does", Sirius muttered

**Here we are." **

**At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress. **

"**Password?" she said. **

"**Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it — Neville needed a leg up — and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.**

"God I love our common room", Sirius exclaimed

"It defiantly is the nicest", Harry commented

"You've seen the other common rooms?" Remus questioned

Harry ignored him and continued to read.

**Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase — they were obviously in one of the towers — they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed. **

"**Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get **_**off**_**, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets." **

**Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once. **

**Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. **

"Thats freaky", Ginny muttered

**Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully — and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it — then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold — there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking. **

**He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.**

"Thats the end" Harry said

"So when Ron is making up stuff he's right and your dreams are to", Hermione muttered to Harry

"Apparently so", he said smiling slightly, handing the book to Ginny.

_**Read and Review **___

_**(*) – Ok so i'm a girl and i say that i love people all the time, like that i love my friends, or if someone does something cool I'll say "I love that kid". It's just something we do, im not sure if you guys reading this do or if guys do it cause even though i have guy friends there not really macho kinda people so yeah, tell me and if they don't I'll try to make it a bit more realistic.**_


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